Stargate Worlds MMO Development Like TV Production

Stargate Worlds Logo

GameIndustry.biz‘s Phil Elliott interviewed FireSky’s Joe Ybarra, senior VP of strategic operations, and Rod Nakamoto, senior VP of product development, about the upcoming Stargate Worlds MMORPG.

“I think the best way to look at it is that the IP [Intellectual Property] for Stargate Worlds was originally a television series, and what’s really interesting about working on a TV-based property – especially with Stargate – is the fact that it’s an ongoing production and the mentality that they take towards creating the show is very similar to that which we take when building a game,” Ybarra told Elliott. “Then of course post-launch we intend to produce incremental content on a regular basis very much like television programming – so from a development standpoint the two models are almost exactly the same.

“I think what’s also interesting is that the audiences that consume these products, both from TV with respect to science-fiction programming and gaming, is the same. As we refine our processes, as we start to look into the future of how we can make that relationship between television and gaming even closer than we’ve accomplished already, that’s a really exciting aspect of our business.”

Concerning how the game will be made available to consumers, Ybarra said, “One of the interesting challenges that we have with Stargate Worlds from a content distribution system is the fact that because we’re giving the user a high quality experience, the size of the project is fairly substantial.

“So in terms of ease of use for our customers, we could distribute it electronically, but we’re talking a lot of content here – it could be hours before you actually get the build. So for us we feel that the retail component continues to be one of the vehicles that we’ll use to get the product into customers’ hands.

“Longer term though, … as broadband continues to increase its penetration and become increasingly more powerful, then pushing the amount of data we’re talking about here becomes less and less of a problem for our customers.

“In terms of the economics of that, they’re pretty reasonable as they are today – so the question isn’t so much one of a business issue, it’s one of accessibility.”

In the interview, Ybarra said that FireSky will be making original IP for themselves, along with a platform called Social Networks At Play (SNAP), which is meant to bring gaming and social networking together. “But if you compare the other types of products, one of the things you have to recognise, being in the games business, is that the one thing we have to produce is a great game – and it really doesn’t matter what the property or subject matter is, we have to deliver to the customer a great game,” Ibarra noted.

To read the full interview, visit MMO Week: Joe Ybarra and Rod Nakamoto

Stargate Worlds is due for release this fall.