RPG Roundtable #1, Part Three

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Written by BuckGB on July 9th, 2003

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Casey Hudson - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare: It's also true that although it's certainly possible to create a good non-fantasy RPG (and it has been done a few times already), there seem to be barriers preventing these games from selling really well. Why do the barriers exist, and what can be done to breach them?

I think one of the most powerful barriers is familiarity. When a game appears on store shelves (or web previews etc.), there's a moment where prospective buyers sense whether or not they "get" the idea of the game. If it uses an established license, the game instantly achieves familiarity; the buyer knows what to expect from it. If it's a completely new intellectual property - and contains themes never seen before in an RPG - it will be difficult to sell people on what's going to be great about the game.

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