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Brink developer teases shift in focus

Splash Damage CEO promises upcoming games will explore new platforms, "take full advantage" of industry changes like free-to-play and mobile markets.

Brink developer Splash Damage is looking to make an impact in 2012. In a message to fans today, Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgwood said this would be "the most significant year" in the studio's decade-long history and teased some changes to the way the company makes and sells its wares.

Splash Damage is apparently on the…precipice…of some big changes.

Splash Damage is apparently on the…precipice…of some big changes.

"We'll be revealing new titles, both on platforms we've previously visited (including the PC and the world's leading consoles), as well as exploring spaces completely new to us," Wedgewood said. "Finally, we've got some special things planned to take full advantage of the changes our industry is experiencing."

Earlier in his letter, Wedgwood had discussed the changes the industry has undergone in the past decade, saying, "We can now play multiplayer games online no matter what the platform is. Thanks to the wonders of digital distribution, we can buy games directly from their developers and play them immediately. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are more widespread than ever before, and these let us play wherever we are. More recently, the rise of good free-to-play games has allowed players to get their feet wet without demanding a big investment upfront."

Wedgwood said the company has a number of significant announcements planned over "the coming weeks and months."

Splash Damage got its start as a mod team creating maps for Quake 3. Although it has since become a proper studio, Splash Damage has retained an emphasis on multiplayer-focused first-person shooters, developing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Brink.

For more on Splash Damage's most recent effort, check out GameSpot's review of Brink.

28 Comments

  • Darnasian

    Posted Feb 15, 2012 11:24 pm GMT

    @X-RS

    First of all I said nothing about Brink or said it is a bad game...
    I played it and I have played it after the Patches like 1 or 2 months after it was released...the online problem I found was the lag in multiplayer but that's all....
    And then again I come with my statement..,
    This is an industry where you have to stick to a deadline...and more time means more spent money...
    If you think Skyrim is so buggy then do what you did with Brink...
    Wait for the first or second major patch...
    Anyway you got it too personal on Brink considering I said nothing about it and I enjoyed playing it...

  • X-RS

    Posted Feb 15, 2012 3:08 pm GMT

    @Darnasian
    Yeh...I have a feeling they did lots of outsourcing the closer it got to the date, but they obviously wouldn't have to with the strength in the brand.
    Had the publisher beleived in Brink like their own product (or simply played it..) time would have been alotted.
    As for sales, Brink did quite well, though Splash Damage's face value has taken quite the hit, not Bethesda's. To me it was quite obvious that a polished objective based online multiplaye game with parkour would have significant demand. I would have thouht any publisher would see postponing it as the better choice. Instead Bethesda had it pumped out and shipped for hot sales.

    If you still think it was an issue of "time=money" you obviously didn't play re/post patch. About a month after MANY issues were ironed out. Which is amazing, compared to gameplay of the first couple weeks, and obliterates your time=money theory. So yes I KNOW it would have performed much better with simply another 2 months in house for better reviews at launch (again for the sake of face).
    The 3 main problems remaining before it went dark I recall were:
    -Becoming stuck zoomed in (3-5 sec)after emptying a sniper magazine -1st Resistanec map had a papre wall needing a bomb planted
    -Engineers were still too powerful

    Then again, maybe Bethesda just doesn't know how to select (or publish) thrid party tittles...

    I am now having to wait for Devil's Third.

  • carllfc

    Posted Jan 26, 2012 10:40 am GMT

    Not even interested since Brink was such a massive disappointment. I shall never fall for the hype and promises that developers give in interviews again.

  • dylan35

    Posted Jan 25, 2012 5:49 pm GMT

    i thought taking away stats for kills in games would be a good idea too until Brink but i mean really the game was alot of fun after the lag stopped !!!

  • juberline

    Posted Jan 25, 2012 10:34 am GMT

    @mat989
    awesome games and wet don't go together

  • charlieboomboom

    Posted Jan 25, 2012 7:35 am GMT

    Holy S¤%t u did enemy territory..One off my alltime fav onlineshooter. How about a remake??
    Havent playd brink, seems dated. Looked great at first until i saw the enemy spawn out off thin air :/ pls do ET, dont go mobile.

  • gregoryashby

    Posted Jan 25, 2012 7:14 am GMT

    After Brink...I cant believe a word they say. Have to wait and see what they come up. "NEVER PREORDER"

  • mat989

    Posted Jan 25, 2012 6:58 am GMT

    So, basically means a Brink 2 game in on the way then? C'mon, Bethesda have some really awesome games like Elder Scrolls, Wet and Rage. Splash Damage is just an Indie company compared to it.

  • Darnasian

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 11:44 pm GMT

    @X-RS

    Dude...Skyrim had to stick to a deadline...
    11.11.11....coolest release date on Earth...
    DO you think it would've been so buggy if they gave it more time....no....but with every 1 more day spent over the deadline the costs of development increase...
    No one is able to loose money anymore...
    Of course we aren't talking about Blizzard whom release a game after decades of work...
    That company has way too much money then they need XD

  • Darnasian

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 11:37 pm GMT

    Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
    Sarcasm....obviously I know why I have this feeling...really?....mobile gaming...please don't ruin future games making them stupid mobile...

  • s4dn3s5

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 8:05 pm GMT

    TL;DR

    "Our last 2 games sucked so bad that our publisher is ready to shutdown our studio, so we have to cash in with something safer and less risky, like mobile crap and casual BS".

  • eriktkire

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 6:59 pm GMT

    free 2 play = games made for naive morons. 90% of them anyway.

    Renting individual guns a week at a time? That's worse than paying a subscription in the long run.

    It's a real shame, they failed to support ETQW properly and then they did even worse with Brink. Final release lacking key competitive features, then after a few months it drops price during some steam sales to be $5 slapping everyone that preordered or just bought it on release... then all that DLC content they promised ended up being a map pack they originally claimed would be free, and character stuff that was all preorder content.

    Very disappointed. Less than a full year after release the game's servers are completely empty on PC. I loved Brink but no matter how good a new game concept they come up with, I can't see myself supporting Splash in the slightest ever again. I expect them to fail with their game support yet again.

  • Atheosis

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 2:46 pm GMT

    Brink had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it really felt like an unfinished game (almost like a beta). Do a better job of finishing your games Splash Damage, then worry about the rest.

  • Avenger1324

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 2:14 pm GMT

    @makryu
    lol - was thinking the same thing. When a dev starts talking about the good points of free to play it's often because their last game failed to live up to expectations

  • SolidTy

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 1:55 pm GMT


    Good luck to Splash Damage, they have talent there, but if they need to make adjustments to polish their games or whatever, I'm fine with that.

    They started as a simple Quake 3 mod team, so they have come a long way.

  • makryu

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 1:48 pm GMT

    In other words, "our game failed, so we will try to make cheap games to attract unwary customers who never heard of Brink". A shame, really, I trulyw anted Brink to give me that Mirror's Edge feeling again...

  • pszone

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 1:39 pm GMT

    Yes you need to change way you are make better games and be careful how you choose lol and forget you ever made brik

  • mrzero1982pt2

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 1:06 pm GMT

    finally, a developer who took failure and did not close or run off, but would rather forge ahead and give it another shot. resiliency: something which does not exist in the gaming world... but should

  • X-RS

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 12:36 pm GMT

    My god you guys are pathetic. You whine about Brink being a let down because Bethesda wouldn't allow any more time in dev and wanted to cash in quick.
    You think your beloved Skyrim had to stick to a deadline?!!!?

    And while I think it's entirely sad the developement cycle has become entirely half@$$d around the globe, us buying DLC content is easily to blame.

    What's worse now is instead creating the proper bugggles version of Brink with the sales it received they are going *free* online junk...-_-

  • parrot_of_adun

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 12:25 pm GMT

    So... Bad news? It's never good when developers say they're going to "take full advantage of the changes our industry is experiencing."

    And what's with all the hate for Brink? It wasn't terrible, just a little disappointing, but only because of how illogically hyped everyone got.

  • IceJester45

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 12:03 pm GMT

    Was a big Quake Wars fan. Big. Brink turned me off of this studio, though. I'm skeptical.

  • KUNG-LO

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 11:32 am GMT

    After the whole "BRINK" debacle, I don't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth. Brink was a day 4 purchase for me and I told all my buddies to buy it thinking it would be the new Team Fortress 2. Now I'm £40 out of pocket (GAME trade value ? £4) and I've lost a few online mates, Thanks Paul !!!

  • Barighm

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 11:15 am GMT

    This is why they pay people to come up with nice ways to say "We suck. We can't sell our games unless we give them away for free".

  • peterhawk2

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 11:14 am GMT

    i play brink its nice game but it has some weakness such focus
    i expect it more action and thriller(last one was boring)

  • ChiefFreeman

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 10:52 am GMT

    Change on focus? More like you should go out of business for making sub par games. They made one decent game (Quake Wars) and one crappy game (Brink) the last 6 years, and both sold poorly. Who is going to wanna to keep funding them?

  • ThePowerOfHAT

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 10:31 am GMT

    Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was a fantastic, free multiplayer game. If Splash Damage adopted a free-to-play model with something like that, I'd suspect they'd have a chance at some great success.

  • toonsim2

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 10:17 am GMT

    Brink was mediocre at best (and dont get me started on the AI). A change in focus is a good thing

  • chingchow48

    Posted Jan 24, 2012 10:11 am GMT

    Sounds like they are going to support OnLive

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