Raccoon Logic: "Let people own the game they bought"

gamesindustry.biz:

Revenge of the Savage Planet developer Raccoon Logic wants to see fewer games monetising their players after launch via microtransactions, seeking a return to the traditional pay-once premium model as standard.

During our interview at Gamescom, co-founder Alex Hutchinson spoke about how games often have multiple chances at reaching an audience, referring to the team's previous title – Journey to the Savage Planet, developed as Typhoon Studios – which debuted on Google's Stadia streaming service, later came to consoles, and received an expanded edition that bundled the DLC.

"In the modern world, to make your money back, often you do need to keep re releasing it," he explained. "Having a way to get it out there again in six months or a year, maybe updated, maybe on new platforms, all this sort of stuff, means that you keep the game alive and so you give yourself a better chance for success there."

The consensus among major games firms seems to be that microtransactions and other forms of generating recurrent consumer spending are the way to keep games alive. To this, Hutchinson said: "Yeah, well, I don't think it's a healthy way to do it."

"AI is taking jobs from people and I think it's soulless, and then microtransactions are nickel and diming people," he continued. "Why not just sell them something authentically instead of trying to get every last cent out of them? Let people own the game that they bought."

The reveal trailer for Revenge of the Savage Planet ends with a string of tongue-in-check marketing taglines, including 'No DRM', 'No AI content', 'No metaverse', and 'No microtransactions.' We asked if this was just for comedic purposes or if Raccoon Logic is taking a strong stance against these facets of the games industry.

"Like any good joke, it has a little bit of a barb in it," said Hutchinson. "Those are the things in the industry that we don't like. We have a crazy plan to release [our game], charge you money for it and then give it to you. I don't know if it's