The video game industry has received a lot of bad news lately: Even at the biggest, most profitable companies, people are getting laid off, studios are closing, and games are being canceled. A small number of massive games — like Roblox and Fortnite, which are both games and platforms — take up a lot of attention. It feels hard for any one new video game to succeed, which is why people were so excited to hear not only about the success of Neowiz and Round8 Studio’s Lies of P, but about the way the company was celebrating that success.
South Korean outlet The Elec published a story last week saying that Neowiz was marking the launch of its Lies of P DLC Overture by giving its employees two weeks of paid time off, Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, and a $7,500 bonus. Round8 Studio head Jason Park confirmed the bonuses to Aftermath, saying that these bonuses are “a special advance payment to celebrate [the] successful launch of the DLC,” but are only one part of the total bonus that employees will receive.
“The substantial, performance-based incentives will continue to be paid out annually,” Park said. “We base these yearly incentives on our operating profit and distribute them to the development team. We anticipate that early next year, when the 2025 performance incentives are paid, it will be a very exciting and rewarding time for our development team.”
Overture was released on June 6, described by Neowiz as “a dramatic prequel to the acclaimed soulslike action RPG.” Chris Person, noted Lies of P enjoyer, said in his review of Overture that the DLC is “the best parts of the game executed with confidence.”
The original game was a success by the typical metrics of sales, with three million copies sold according to the studio. But Park said that Round8 Studio and Neowiz aren’t necessarily concerned with the sales or revenue of the game as a “primary goal.” Instead, they aim to create games that score above 85 by fans and critics on places like Metacritic or OpenCritic. “We firmly believe that if we focus on crafting games that resonate with and are acclaimed by our fans, sales and revenue will naturally follow,” Park said.
This was important to how the team approached Overture. “When developing Lies of P: Overture, our focus wasn’t on specific sales figures,” Park said. “Instead, we aimed to tell the untold hidden stories from the past for the fans who loved Lies of P, and to provide an enhanced experience that improved upon any aspects that felt lacking in the main game. Ultimately, we believe the development team created a truly satisfying result, and we also achieved our goal critics-wise. This bonus payout is both a celebration of that achievement and a significant turning point as the Lies of P franchise progresses to its next stage.”
Park acknowledged that the success of Lies of P and the Overture DLC — which has an 84 rating on Metacritic and an 85 rating on OpenCritic — is not the work of “a single director alone.” It’s a team effort, and that’s why the entire team is rewarded in this way.
“As you know, creating a truly great game isn’t possible through the efforts of a single director alone. We believe that a truly excellent game is built through the collective dedication of every developer involved in the project, all striving to make the game experience rich and immersive,” Park said.
He continued, “Many team members have even said that receiving this kind of support and encouragement from fans was a dream come true for them as developers.”
发表回复