Rebellion co-founder and CEO Jason Kingsley was featured in the latest MCVUK magazine, now available for free download on Issuu.
During the interview, the Rebellion boss discussed many topics such as the recent acquisitions of new studios (Radiant Worlds, TickTock Games), the upcoming launch of Google Stadia (understandably, he said he's excited at the prospect) and the Epic Games Store, chiefly with regards to the exclusives deals the folks at Epic have been signing.
It doesn't look like fans of Rebellion titles have anything to fear in the foreseeable future as Kingsley said it's extremely unlikely they'd consider going exclusive on the EGS. At the same time, he also mentioned he understands Epic's business reason for going down this road and concluded that it's hardly any effort having another launcher on the PC as a consumer.
I’m not really a big believer in exclusives. For me the relationship I have with the consumer is important and it matters to me how many people buy and play my game. We listen to our fans as best we can. It’s not just compensating us for lost sales on platform X or Y. Fine, that might derisk the project, but you also have to factor in the cost of the negative reaction from people who are upset by that decision. There’s a kind of fairness aspect to this, and I want to be fair to the fans who want to buy it on the platform they want. So that’s sort of my feeling at the moment. I guess that could change but there would have to be a bloody good reason.
Our plans do not involve doing anything exclusive like that but I think it’d be dishonest for me to say we would never do it or rule it out. But I think it’s extremely unlikely. I understand why Epic are doing the exclusives. I entirely understand the business case for it, because they’ve got to, because they’ve got to drive people to their platform. Do I support them in it? I have to say as a consumer it’s a bit annoying but it’s not that annoying really, because it’s hardly any effort, having another launcher on your system.
Last but not least, the Rebellion CEO pointed out the inherent benefit of breaking a monopoly in the PC digital market.
I think competition is good, there’s a Monopolies and Mergers Commission for a reason. And I think for any business it’s good to have peers that are keeping you focused on improving your offering. I applaud Epic for doing this, I think it’s actually good for Steam too because the competition kind of makes them go: ‘Oh fuck, we better sit up, take notice and do something about it.
Do you agree with his assessments?
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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