Exclusive Interview with Naughty Dog Co-Founder Jason Rubin

VG: Before we wrap up our conversation, let’s talk about two of the biggest issues in gaming right now: downloadable content and digital rights management. Many gamers are becoming frustrated with the former. More often than not, developers seem to release day-one DLC in the form of codes that unlock content which already exists on the disc. Similarly, multiplayer map packs and other releases are often cited as being too pricey or lacking replay value. What are your feelings on the current DLC market? Where could the industry use improvement, and what works well already?

JR: The industry is in a state of change right now.  It is moving, unstoppably, towards incremental release of content and digital distribution.  I believe, strongly, that this is ultimately good for the gamer and the industry.  Unfortunately the transition will neither be rapid or smooth.  And thus, during the transition period there will be missteps by the industry, and misunderstandings by the gamer.  I think the frustrations you point out in the question are a little bit of both.

Games of the future will probably be distributed more like World of Warcraft (I am not talking about subscription, just distribution).  There will be a big initial chunk launched, and then continual incremental release of content of various sizes.  There is no reason that a separate walled title, with a different name or number, must or should be created with each major release.  Because of WOW’s distribution methodology it is completely unclear when the content is created.  It is also irrelevant.  If some hat or spell or dungeon or whatever was created before the latest major launch, but released later, nobody knows, and nobody cares.  Do gamers think they have the right to everything on Blizzard’s servers the day a release is launched?  The disc is an inconvenient distribution medium that forces what seems like an unfair walling off of content.  When the disc goes away, so will these issues and confusions.

Whether any given DLC is worth its cost is another matter entirely.  Developers have an obligation to make gamers happy.  If they are charging too much for too little, then gamers have a right to complain.  I don’t disagree that this may be happening.  In some cases this may be simple misjudgment of the new marketplace.  I believe that the price to quality equation will get better over time as both game makers and game players get used to the new market.

And some of the blame for the issues you bring up lies in the transition itself.  Game makers are still expected to get “everything” in the box and yet add to that with DLC.  There is an inherent contradiction in that.  In the long run, I believe this will work itself out.

VG: Digital rights management, or DRM, is a large collection of techniques used by developers and publishers to combat piracy. Many gamers believe that DRM is too intrusive, establishing a digital presence on their PC or requiring an inconvenient software activation on consoles. Did piracy shape the development of Crash and Jak and Daxter in any way? Do you feel that the techniques being deployed today are an effective way to combat bootleggers, or is the industry missing the point?

JR: Piracy is a big issue, and I don’t condone it.  Naughty Dog lost millions of dollars to piracy while I was there.  I remember buying a $1 CD with all three Crash games at a bazaar in Bangkok, and I probably could have negotiated the price down if I had tried.  However, I think time will solve this problem for the industry.  Intrusive DRM is not the solution.  It didn’t work for the music industry, it didn’t work for the movie industry, and it won’t work for the game industry.  Luckily, it doesn’t have to.  In the long run, digital distribution, servers, and cloud storage of data solve this problem.  World of Warcraft has an extremely small piracy rate.  There is no reason, in the long run, that games like CoD can’t be the same.

VG: Have you ever thought about returning to the industry? Can you see a future where you’re working on big-budget games for a mainstream audience again?

JR: I have thought about it.  Who knows!

Vivid Gamer would like to sincerely thank Mr. Rubin for this interview, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

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