Splash Damage: PC-Only Development Was 'Incompatible' With Triple-A Strategy

UK-based Splash Damage got its start as a modding house founded by hardcore PC gamers who made games for hardcore PC gamers. The studio is responsible for the popular 2001 mod Quake 3 Fortress, and has since developed Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and the 2008 online shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, among other releases. But while Splash Damage has its roots in hardcore PC gaming, the studio has had to adapt to a market that is highly-focused on console gaming. "About two or three years ago we realized that we really wouldn’t survive if we only made PC games, since purely making PC games was incompatible with our goal of making triple-A games," said Splash Damage head Paul Wedgwood in a VG247 report from the EG Expo in Leeds. Wedgwood said that landing a publishing deal with high-budget goodies like orchestras and top-tier voice acting is difficult when creating a game only for PC, "where there [aren't] the sales to justify that kind of work." Today, apparently much for the sake of business, Wedgwood has let go of his "hardcore PC guy" tendencies and expanded his vision to embrace consoles, which he says he plays much more often these days. Brink is a stylized class-based shooter unveiled earlier this year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Splash Damage hired numerous talents from the console gaming world, including key people from Killzone 2 and Fable II. Brink won't be the first time a Splash Damage game appears on consoles. Quake Wars is also on Xbox 360 and PS3, although those versions were developed by outside developers. Splash Damage handled the PC version. Wedgwood's sentiments echo those of Splash Damage senior game designer Ed Stern, who told Gamasutra at E3 in June, "We didn't want to just cater to [PC gamers]. I mean, we love them, we were a mod team before we were ever developers. We love them and want to keep on supporting them the best we can. But in the last five or ten years, there's just millions more people who are now gamers."