Since its launch, The First Descendant has captivated the players with its engaging combat mechanics and immersive cooperative gameplay. The game offers players a diverse roster of characters to pick from, each with their special abilities to aid in the battle. This not only enhances the gameplay experience but also makes the battlefield feel more dynamic and immersive.
However, creating such an ambitious title in today’s complex and costly gaming landscape was no small feat. In an interview, Nexon Games CEO Park Yong-hyun shared valuable insights into the studio’s development process. He emphasized how user feedback played a crucial role in shaping the game. This approach could have benefited Sony during the development of Concord.
The First Descendant Prioritized User Feedback Over Profit Projections
Nexon Games, under the leadership of CEO Yong-hyun Park, has carved a name for itself by taking a different, often riskier, approach to game development. In an interview at TGS 2024, Park explained that the studio doesn’t rely on the traditional method of forecasting profits and working backward to create games.
Instead, it focuses on user feedback, especially when developing innovative games in new genres. This is due to the lack of historical data to predict how these games would perform in the market. For The First Descendant, the studio didn’t just rely on hypothetical market predictions but listened to what users liked and didn’t like.
This player-first approach ensured that by the time the game launched, it had a better chance of finding an audience and achieving success (which it did). Even though the game faced some issues at the launch, it was a huge success. Nexon even acknowledged the issues and has since fixed most of the glaring issues pointed out by the players with various patches.
This was a complete contrast to the situation faced by Sony with Concord, where the company relied too much on data-driven predictions rather than engaging with the community in a meaningful way during the development process.
It resulted in disaster, as the game was shut down and the developers are waiting for the inevitable layoff. If Sony had taken a page from Nexon’s playbook, they might have avoided the missteps that led to Concord’s downfall.
Nexon Showed User Feedback is the Future of Game Development
With the huge success of The First Descendant, Nexon showed the power of user feedback in modern game development. Park even mentioned that instead of relying solely on market data and profit projections, the team engaged with players early and very often (during development as well). This approach helped the team to adjust the game based on real-time responses.
By prioritizing user feedback, Nexon avoided the pitfalls of outdated development methods. The studio listened to what players truly wanted, which helped shape the game’s mechanics and overall experience. It is still active in listening to the player’s feedback in order to improve the game further.
In today’s complex and competitive gaming landscape, this approach is very essential. The studio’s success proves that involving players in the development process isn’t just a trend, it is the future of game creation. This strategy should become popular soon among Western developers to not follow the same path as Sony’s Concord.
In the end, the industry is evolving at a rapid pace, and so too should the way games are developed. It is now time to cut ties with traditional methods. While they may have worked in the past, they are no longer suited to today’s complex gaming market.
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