The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

re: The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

Pistolaero — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:13:43 GMT

A lot of peeps on the net give Jaffe flack for being so outspoken. Personally, I just find him honest. He might not think of himself as great as Miyamoto, but I think God of War says otherwise.

re: The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

harrison25 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:07:01 GMT

'i would have left blu ray out of the ps3 and tried to get it into the hands of more gamers' David Jaffe, GT geoff keighly bonus round interview.

lol. damn you to hell for your honesty Jaffe!

re: The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

sirchode — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:25:46 GMT

I'm struggling with his responses here. He's talking about two pieces of the puzzle, one being (from what I can gather) creative freedom and the other would be financial freedom... right? He's saying he'd like to own the IPs he creates rather than a larger company like Sony so that he can funnel all the profits into another property and keep the wheels turning? Am I understanding that correctly?

It's something I'd never considered, but can certainly empathize with. As always, big props to Jaffe for actually doing something about it, even if he feels the move is belated. His decision to establish Eat Sleep Play actually reminds me of God of War, they're both something a lot of people in the industry could only dream of accomplishing. Hopefully Eat Sleep Play turns out to be as successful for Jaffe as God of War was.

re: The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

shred — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:52:38 GMT

I like David Jaffe and his games, but his whole argument confuses me.

I realize that blockbuster games make scads of money, but far more games tank and never recoup their costs. Once you factor in how much Sony has to spend to cover the losers, plus how much they spend on marketing, how profitable is the "average" Sony title*? And how big a piece of that pie is it fair for a producer like Jaffe to get? If you frame it in those terms, balancing the risk and the reward across all parties, what's fair? Without having real numbers, it makes it awfully difficult to determine where fair compensation ends and plain old greed kicks in.

Given the recent deals being made, wouldn't Sony (or its competitors) be willing to pay big bucks for the opportunity to own Jaffe's next IP and publish his next game? Maybe his last deal with Sony wasn't stellar, but wouldn't his next deal with them have to be?

I feel like there's more going on here than either party is saying.

(*I'm not even factoring how much Sony might be losing on hardware costs.)

re: The David Jaffe Interview, Part I

ichewlightbulbs — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:30:37 GMT

It's interesting to see Jaffe's title change from "Creator of God of War" to "Eat Sleep Play co-founder." Seems Jaffe is better known today as the man who preferred casual games to big, blockbuster titles rather than the man who created one of the most popular new AAA game franchises in the past five years.