Twisted Metal

THE BUZZ: Online passes are all the rage these days, but if Twisted Metal co-created David Jaffe had his way, they wouldn’t be part of the next chapter of the franchise.

In an interview this week with Eurogamer, Jaffe states that he thinks not having a required online pass could help make the game more popular.

“I’d actually prefer that we don’t do it, even though it’s probably good business,” Jaffe said. “Only because we have such a mountain to climb in terms of gaining people’s good faith, especially in Europe, and really letting people know that this is a title that’s worth getting excited about.”

At this point, Jaffe says that he isn’t sure if the game will be required to make use of Sony’s online pass system or not. However, while he says the final decision is out of his hands, he and his team at Eat Sleep Play have worked hard to make the online portions of Twisted Metal as accessible as possible—and not using online passes would be another good step in that.

“I’m okay with the fact that we might lose sales on this first game if, because of it, we generate a lot of fans that otherwise wouldn’t have played the game,” Jaffe admitted to Eurogamer. “The online is so much the bread and butter of this game, so I’m okay with it because it means we’re setting ourselves up for a possible return to the franchise one day.”

Another good point of Jaffe’s interview with Eurogamer (which can be read in full via the link below)—he’s hoping to make sure the retail version of Twisted Metal ships with as few bugs as possible.

“Do we have a duty to ship a game that’s bug-free within reason? 100 per cent yes,” Jaffe said.

EGM’s TAKE: No matter if you’re a fan of his games or not, David Jaffe has long seemed like a game developer who really cares about consumers and the experience they have with games. So, kudos to Jaffe for feeling this way, even though Twisted Metal will no doubt end up requiring an online pass in order to fully utilize its multiplayer modes.

Source: Eurogamer