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This is unfortunately still a very strange world, as in Abe's Oddworld, a fictional universe that gave birth to nine games on multiple platforms from 1997 to next year. In this world, Lorne Lanning, franchise creator, tells Varietythe inhabitants are all cogs devoid of spirit and happy in a commercial machine. The Fed's lies, they place the company first, the last last and serve to calm corporate greed.
This is an badogy that Lanning still thinks has been true today and one of the reasons he believes his franchise, which is now more than 20 years old, continues to fascinate players.
In a recent interview with Variety, Lanning talks about the upcoming release of "Oddworld: Soulstorm" in 2020, a remake and the expansion of the second original game of the franchise "Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus".
During a large-scale interview, Lanning explains the birth and growth of Oddworld, explains why Lanning decided to return to the franchise after a seven-year hiatus, how he still considers that the property is worthy of a movie and why fans of Nintendo Switch go to Oddworld. to have such a good year.
What made you go back to the Oddworld franchise in 2012?
Our long-term ambitions have always focused on the long-term potential of intellectual property. Therefore, throughout our history and its ups and downs, we have remained focused on all the possibilities of preserving or recovering intellectual property rights. All for the long term possibilities of where we hope to eventually take things.
After the end of development operations in 2005, we waited for the start of digital distribution to finally start distributing our own library independently.
It began to be possible around 2008, when Valve agreed to let us place our original Abe titles on Steam just as Digital Distribution started to take off. Finally, intellectual property began to become a viable source of recurring revenue that was returning to us altogether. Then, in 2011/2012, the entrance barrier for online storefronts went down to the point that millions of people had computer consoles powerful enough to download and play games, and that the speed Internet was fast enough to download large content such as games.
Revenues from conventional titles finally allowed us to start publishing remastered games on Steam and consoles, but we did not know what to expect, but we knew we would offer high quality AAA experiences with budgets We believe in digital distribution as a future source of revenue for the entertainment industry as a whole. But what surprised us is that digital distribution has dramatically increased the shelf life of games compared to the shorter lifetimes we've experienced at traditional retailers. This is a major turning point in the history and future potential of Oddworld.
How did the development and release of "Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty" in 2014 influence your decision to create "Oddworld Soulstorm"?
The creation and development of Oddworld games is possible thanks to the support of our fans. The revenue from each game sold goes directly to the development of our next project. "New 'N' Tasty" launched gangbusters and, as we have been doing for years, we reinvested these revenues in our next project, which happened to be "Soulstorm".
As we approached the completion of "New & # 39; n & # 39; Tasty, "both from an emotional and creative point of view, we felt that the moment had finally come to dive back into our original idea of a series of five games that told the story of the past. 39; evolution. from Abe. Finally, we thought we could afford to take on such an ambitious project with our own funding.
Do you think that you will continue to rework your Oddworld games, continuing with "Munch's Oddysee"?
If there is a request, we will remaster and improve the games from our back catalog. You can even hear about something like this very soon. We have already announced the arrival of "Stranger's Wrath" on Switch and we will have some additional announcements related to Switch to do after E3. One thing I can say now, I believe that Oddworld fans who own Switch will see the year 2019 as a very Oddworld year.
How would you define an Oddworld game?
Oddworld games show directly how strange our real world can be, both bad and good. Thus, he has always been inspired by history and by the current state of the dark side of globalization.
We believe that Abe is a faithful representation of every person, regardless of age, color, gender, badual or political preferences. Abe is someone who lives in his life, blind to what is going on around them, then wakes up in a more uncomfortable reality and becomes a challenge to make a change. Abe may not want to be a hero, but there is greatness in Abe. A bigger goal. A greater good. A greater possibility. All this will cause him a lot of problems.
How does "Soulstorm" change the original "Exoddus"?
"Oddworld: Soulstorm" is the real sequel to "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee". When we originally released "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee", we were lucky that other great games like "Doom 2", "Unreal" and "Duke Nukem" were released. out of the holiday window. That left a hole in the market and we had a chance to fill it. We were a holiday hit. But because of Abe's success, we were asked to quickly create a second game and deliver it for the next holiday season. It was not a calendar that we wanted or planned, because our process of creation and development takes some time to turn into what we wanted the title of the second quintology to be. So, what happened is that "Exoddus" was produced in nine months and was a much smaller company than we wanted. This meant that the original, more complicated idea was outdated in 1998. But we wanted to be a good partner, so we delivered "Exoddus", but "Exoddus" was never the real result we had envisioned.
Meanwhile, "Soulstorm" is the sequel that we have always wanted to tell and, after the success of "New N Tasty", we thought it was an opportunity to restart the original vision of the quintology. What meant "Soulstorm" would be to take back completely what "Exoddus" was originally based on and would be a brand new game that would evolve tremendously on Abe's story and gameplay capabilities.
How do you think the themes and history of Exoddus fit into today's society and political landscape? Is it still a relevant game?
It's still relevant, like all Oddworld games, I guess. As the whole story of Abe remains relevant, unfortunately for us, inhabitants of the Earth, and will probably still be in this context.
When you see how we met Abe for the first time, he was a happy cog in the machine of the company. Believing in the noble lies, he was nurtured to continue his good work, much like how many millions and millions of people are today. Happy because he did not know better, but maybe "ignorant" is a better word. His sole purpose was to serve corporate greed and he did not suspect that after he had exhausted, he would have finally literally devoured it.
In the process of creating contemporary myths … "Abe's Oddysee / New 'N' Tasty ', presents a moment where Abe's experience allows him to see clearly what's going on around him and not just what the "big brother" tells him to see. And that changes his destiny, as for many of us.
When Abe does not crack anymore for promotional lies, political disappointments, false news or any other propaganda. Abe then launches into a free thought and then acts as an individual, free from any false influence. And if it would have been easier for him to save himself, Abe is so emphatic that he is forced to save others and ultimately his karmic score reflects that intention.
Abe awakens political and political links and false beliefs based on propaganda and really sees the world as it is, and does not like it, wants to change it. Given what's happening in today's world, I think it's getting easier for us to see some of ourselves in Abe and I think Abe fans are feeling this way. link.
How do you think these Oddworld remodifications fit into the current landscape of video games?
Oddworld is very different in the type of titles, characters, know-how and stories we offer.
We do not play revolutionary games; we make evolutionary games on the revolution. Games that stay true to what people liked at home as clbadics, and we are now modernizing their retro style, but aggressively and creatively. We have always evolved on the retro style since our debut and we are fortunate that old and new Oddworld fans have proven that the brand can coexist successfully in a landscape that is both contemporary and extremely crowded with extremely expensive productions. In this landscape, headlines need to work hard to succeed, and I think that the balance between beauty, empathy, creativity, craftsmanship and mythically proportional storytelling will continue to have its place in the space playing field in full expansion.
At the end of the day, they are always games and when we forget that we lose a lot of what makes the game an excellent medium. It is therefore a balance to stay fresh, creative, relevant, inspiring and above all … fun !!
How do you expect the latest generation of players to react to Soulstorm?
Frankly, I think we've never been on time with synchronization with the current youth situation, but marketing and visibility are always a challenge and are critical to success. Hopefully we will have enough word of mouth because we can continue to rely on social marketing for our own budgets and on the generosity of the stores that are doing promotions because we give them something unique and that they are unique. they stand out to sell quality level.
Do you have an interest in creating an entirely new Oddworld?
First of all, I hope we can simply create the very large world of opportunities we have created and on which we can continue to build. Oddworld's possibilities resemble those of our own world. Virtually endless as long as they adhere to Oddworldian's standards for storytelling, character development, unique mechanisms and the power of fear aroused by beauty.
Do you want to add something about Oddworld or "Oddworld Soulstorm"?
With Oddworld, we have always imagined it as games that would also lead to linear mediums. A true transmedia property since its inception, but has not yet left the play space or in other media. With "Soulstorm", we chose to invest more in character performance, database resolutions, and move to a less direct narrative style, which is "bang on the head" and is more cinematic .
Let's hope that the combination of the "Soulstorm" tips and the quality of his performance are convincing enough that we can finally see Abe go to the big screens of Hollywood. It's almost happened a few times, but timing, among other things, did not work at this time in our history. I'm proud to say that JJ Abrahams and Bryan Burk wanted to make a film with Oddworld before even creating Felicity. Personally, I think they were on something. Hopefully we will come to see that something of this magnitude is still happening with Oddworld, and hope that "Soulstorm" will open many more doors of interest for what the bigger opportunities can be.
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