GR: Do you feel there are any fundamental problems with the way games are reviewed? Is there anything that could be improved on the media side of things to make games reviews fairer?
JPK: I think most reviewers are doing a great job, and there are several who I trust when I buy games.
Above: Whether it's something new, more K&L or the inevitable next Hitman game, IO say their next project will benefit from this experience
GR: How does negative criticism inform your design decisions on subsequent projects?
JPK: A lot. Unfortunately it affects it more than positive feedback I think, but it can be a great productive process.
It’s worth noticing that negative criticism has to be filtered very carefully before you start to act on it. Which parts should we fix to make the game better for the player and which parts should we fix to get better reviews? They’re not always the same, but unfortunately almost as important.
I think you’ll see IO as a very listening developer in the next releases, but keeping an edge to our products too. Because there’s a danger to reacting to negative criticism primarily; if you want to cook something that nobody dislikes, it’s going to be nobody’s favourite. It won’t be a Surf 'N' Turf, it’ll probably be a loaf of white bread. Very sellable, very boring, but I sure don’t dislike it.
We'll be running more developer responses to this issue if and when we recieve them. Stay tuned.
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