By Frank Ling, GN Senior Writer
Jim Ward, president of Lucas Arts, decided to take out the old light saber and take a few swipes at competitor Electronic Arts for its failure to release Superman Returns in time with the movie. Ward unloaded his comments to MCV and said, "There’s an attitude in this industry that says in order to make a great game, it takes whatever time it takes and it takes whatever money it takes, and that that’s okay. Well it’s not okay – it’s wrong. It’s not okay in other entertainment businesses. In other businesses it’s big trouble."
“When you have EA failing to bring Superman out with the movie, that’s inexcusable. Moving games like Medal of Honor and Godfather out of the fourth quarter -– that’s the old way of thinking and you can’t do that any more,” he continued.
Ward offered, “We’ve adopted new philosophies at LucasArts which, frankly, the whole industry should adopt. We make kick-ass games, but on time and on budget. Failure on any one of those three points is failure for the project. We are very serious about that strategy and we’re able to deliver on it. As a result we’re successful on a revenue and a bottom line basis."
The struggle to make deadlines while maintaining quality is a puzzle that game publishers and developers have been constantly trying to solve for years. The solution is not necessarily more time to complete projects as it is completing projects that are within reasonable guidelines and expectations.
