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Jaffe: Calling All Cars Was A Mistake
Back in 2007, a downloadable PSN game entitled Calling All Cars was released. The game combined elements of Twisted Metal and NBA Jam’s gameplay, while glazing it with a cartoony veneer. Looking back, designer David Jaffe says it was a “mistake.”
In a response to Adam Sessler’s question regarding whether Jaffe would call Calling All Cars a casual or hardcore game, Jaffe responded “well, I call it a mistake.”
He cites a poor prediction of market response as the reason the game didn’t do fantastically. "While the game was cartoony, our gameplay was more hardcore and modeled after some of the great Midway arcade games like NBA Jam," said Jaffe. "So we had a casual theme, a hardcore play mechanic, on a machine people just spent $599 for." Basically, it didn't know what it really wanted to be, or it didn't speak to a specific audience. "If we were to make it again we would have skinned it entirely differently."
There’s been speculation that Jaffe’s next game will continue his Twisted Metal series. Further fueling the Twisted Metal myth, he says his next game will be "in between God of War and Calling all Cars."
He also mentions that little was known about good price points for PSN games. Landing on the $10 spot appears to have been a shoot-from-the-hip decision. “$10 bucks? Why not?,” said Jaffe.
"I mean, we didn't completely fail -- we made a little money. But we didn't make enough to do more just like this," explained Jaffe. He finally remarks that better marketing tactics can be employed in general. "Let's think a little more about what the consumer wants."
Did any of you purchase this mistake? I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a PS3 at launch, and by the time I was on PSN I definitely glossed over this game.
Source: 1up
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