In one of his last interviews before departing THQ, former VP of Core Games Danny Bilson talks about the much maligned Homefront and what they're (then) planning to do with Homefront 2.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, Bilson was asked why THQ chose Crytek for development duties for Homefront 2 and how their relationship is.
That's an easy one. Homefront had fantastic creative. Arguably, at least in my opinion, one of the best properties for a first person shooter, a fresh world, great environmental storytelling and the execution unfortunately… even though I think it has some phenomenal things in that game, we sold a lot of them and it resonated with people, there were also issues around execution. Not that it wasn't good, but you're being compared to Call Of Duty and Battlefield, two of the best made games in the business. So what do you do if you're us and you've got this IP you believe in, you know you've got the fanbase, you've got a million ideas, how do you solve the problem? You go to a beloved developer that we believe can bring our execution up to the level of Call Of Duty and Battlefield with our incredible IP.
For those who don't know, Homefront 1 was developed by former Battlefield modders KAOS Studios. Unfortunately, the game didn't exactly caught on as THQ hoped and in turn, the entire KAOS studio was shut down.
Bilson then reveals that Crytek will deliver five times the game they delivered before once it's complete.
And I'm working very closely with that team in Nottingham, it's so far phenomenal. So far. We've got a long way to go, the pre-production has been spectacular, I think it's 5X the game we delivered before when it's fully realised. And our idea was the consumers who may have been disappointed with some of the aspect of Homefront, with Crytek applied to it, it gives them confidence in the execution with a brand that seems to have a lot of appeal.
While Bilson isn't with THQ anymore, I'm hoping his ideals coupled with Crytek's technical prowess will finally elevate Homefront to the upper echelons of the military shooter genre.
Were you one of the people who bought Homefront? What do you want to see Crytek do different with it?
Give the whole interview a read as it talks about Bilson's former role in the publisher, and how ironic the first question was given what happened to him.
