The executive director of Battlestate Games Nikita Buyanov said App2Top.ru about how 2018 went for him and his company.
Nikita BuyanovHow was 2018 for you personally?
Since my personal affairs are often directly related to work matters, for me this year has passed (or rather, it is still going on) with completely new difficulties that I did not imagine and did not expect. In principle, for the past year in a row, I realized for myself that there will never be any blissful times when you can rest and do nothing – fate throws up new frontiers to overcome. This year there was especially a lot of my personal work as a psychologist, and the “patients” were not only employees of the company, but also myself. This year, too, I somehow realized very clearly which path I had chosen, where I was going. I can’t say that this year was fun, but it was definitely life-affirming and successful for me.
How was the year for your company?
We have almost doubled in size. We were able to organize a clear hierarchy in the company, put on track the process of more competent and high-quality solution of tasks and problems, which led to serious improvements in the quality and speed of development. We became even more united and friendly, became even better versed in the areas of our game, were able to experiment more, learned to accept our mistakes and work in incredible conditions. This year we have felt much more support than, say, last year. Support and confidence that we are doing something cool.
Escape from TarkovWhat event of 2018 do you consider the most important for the industry?
2018 disappointed me in terms of games. The first time E3 caused real frustration — nothing (practically) interesting. Then it got worse — strong brands began to fail with low-quality games in the hope that nothing would change and players would accept any. There are fewer and fewer serious and high—quality games – there are more and more services. It’s all sad. Seriously, I’ve been thinking for 15 minutes about what kind of event was important for the industry, and I can’t name anything. There is some kind of unhealthy trend in game development — I can say that for sure. From the positive, what can be noted is the output of RDR2. Rockstar — well done, they try to surprise and inspire other developers.
What trends of the outgoing year would you note?
The trend is to earn money, not to create worlds. The trend for battle royals. The trend is to maximize the utilization of psychovisual images in order to keep the player, even if the game is shit. The trend of major developers and publishers is to pour unfinished, crooked games into the market with the confidence that fans will beat off a plus.
What are the third-party projects of this year that you liked the most?
Frostpunk, FAR: Lone Sails, Call of Cthulhu, RDR2 and Marvel’s Spider Man