Matt Chat 89: Brian Fargo
Matt Chat 89: Brian Fargo
Interview - posted by Jason on Mon 17 January 2011, 09:56:17
Tags: Brian Fargo; Matt BartonBrian Fargo is the guest of honor on Matt Chat #89.
In the first part of my interview with the founder of Interplay, Brian and I discuss his early days, the story of Bard's Tale, life at Interplay, Wizardry, and the humor of Battlechess.Brian also pops up in an interview at Gamasutra.
But the truth is developers don't want to hear that. No one wants to devote hundreds of millions of dollars and say, "It normally comes down to instinct." If you think about the film business, let's talk about the '70s. I just read an interview with [former Apple CEO] John Sculley -- [current Apple CEO] Steve Jobs doesn't believe in focus groups, okay. He doesn't believe that consumers are going to tell him what people need. He's going to tell people what they need. He says they can't imagine these things that he sees.
So, in the '70s, the people like [film producer] Bob Evans who ran Paramount, whether they release movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown or Godfather, or whatever the movies were during that time, these were guys who ran these groups and said, "That's a good idea. That's a good idea. That's a good idea," And they did it, and their batting averages were what they were.
Now you have the "science of Hollywood," and its batting average is no better than what they were back then. But who wants to hear that? Again, I don't dwell in the past, but I do miss that part of the business where you had the early EA, for example. It was Bing Gordon, it was Trip [Hawkins]. It was all these guys. You could go and have these conversations, and they say, "That's a good idea."Thanks to Jim Cojones and trustno1code
In the first part of my interview with the founder of Interplay, Brian and I discuss his early days, the story of Bard's Tale, life at Interplay, Wizardry, and the humor of Battlechess.
But the truth is developers don't want to hear that. No one wants to devote hundreds of millions of dollars and say, "It normally comes down to instinct." If you think about the film business, let's talk about the '70s. I just read an interview with [former Apple CEO] John Sculley -- [current Apple CEO] Steve Jobs doesn't believe in focus groups, okay. He doesn't believe that consumers are going to tell him what people need. He's going to tell people what they need. He says they can't imagine these things that he sees.
So, in the '70s, the people like [film producer] Bob Evans who ran Paramount, whether they release movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown or Godfather, or whatever the movies were during that time, these were guys who ran these groups and said, "That's a good idea. That's a good idea. That's a good idea," And they did it, and their batting averages were what they were.
Now you have the "science of Hollywood," and its batting average is no better than what they were back then. But who wants to hear that? Again, I don't dwell in the past, but I do miss that part of the business where you had the early EA, for example. It was Bing Gordon, it was Trip [Hawkins]. It was all these guys. You could go and have these conversations, and they say, "That's a good idea."
