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Legendary game designer Chris Taylor is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the business and also one of the most charismatic members of our extended Wargaming family. Thus it comes as no surprise that when he showed up at our booth during last week’s gamescom, we simply had to get him in front of the microphone to have a chat with him.
Chris, you flew across half the world to be here with us. Thank you very much for that. How did you find time in your busy schedule for gamescom?
Well, I’ve been coming to gamescom since it started, but in the past I was always so busy and which is why I never stayed past the first three days. This year, however, I wanted to change that.
So how are you finding things here?
Coming to gamescom and seeing the crowd, seeing how much they care and how committed they are to our games, I feel especially boosted in my own work. To me that’s really inspiring. That’s why gamescom has such a big impact on me.
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As a game industry veteran, you’ve seen your fair share of gaming trade shows around the globe. What is it that makes gamescom special for you compared to E3, for example, which you have in the US? That’s an easy one. gamescom is a consumer-facing show! This is a place where you get to see the fans and the people who play your games, whereas at E3, they do sneak in but it’s mainly a business and press show. So E3 is for the people in the industry who are from the inside. There’s no real comparison to it in my mind – gamescom is the biggest consumer gaming show in the world! 350,000 visitors! That’s like an entire city comprised of only gaming fans! If you want to see a gaming show – gamescom is the one to see! |
Have you been following our Wargaming releases and which one stood out to you the most?
Yes I do follow them all, of course! World of Tanks Blitz is the latest game that we’ve released and it’s my favourite – for now! (laughs). I’m actually kind of addicted to it! I go home at night thinking “Oh, I’m going to read, talk to my wife or spend time with my kids” and then I invariably end up playing World of Tanks Blitz until 1 AM. I even dare say that I’m pretty darn good at it right now. I have over a thousand battles and my win rate is at around 57.9% and climbing!
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What is it in particular that makes World of Tanks Blitz so interesting for you? I love it because it’s fast. The guys who developed the game really did a great job of capturing the spirit of the mobile platform. Even the name is fitting: Blitz! It’s awesome because you can play basically non-stop without any long interruptions. That’s really refreshing.
When you don’t play or work on other Wargaming games, what games do you play in your free time? |
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That’s a good question. I play a lot of casual games lately with my wife and kids. (laughs) It’s a great way for me to spend time with them.
In fact, it’s really tough when you’re in a company that makes such a great game like World of Tanks to play much else. In our team everybody plays World of Tanks – in the evenings or during lunch for example. We have something called ‘Team Tuesdays’ where we all get together at lunch and we bring in pizza and we play different Wargaming games each week.
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What can you share with us about the secret project that you’re working on for us in Seattle? We’re super excited about what we’re working on. We can’t wait to start telling people about it. The bar for games these days is really high. So it is really important that you think big and not restrict yourself but rather put the creative passion into the art! We want to create something that will give people a truly fresh, new experience. People have to be able to say to their friends “Come see this! You’ve never seen anything like it before in your life! It’s mind-blowing!” That’s where we’ve put the bar. We also know that achieving this is tough, of course. There’s a lot of people competing. A lot of very smart, creative guys trying to accomplish the same goal, dreaming up crazy over-the-top stuff! We have to try and top all of that. Coming to gamescom is the perfect inspiration for getting there.
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Will there be something in your game that will move the genre forward?
Absolutely! It’s exactly that uniqueness that we try to design towards. You have to have it now, it’s not an option. My goal is to not just have one thing that moves the genre forward but at least a half a dozen things so that there’s something for everyone! People are very different and one size does not fill all. That’s true in life and also in gaming.
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We’re all very excited to hear more about your project. Is there already a time set for an official announcement? I don’t think we have a concrete date set at this moment. But I’ll do everything I can to give people a little bit, even if it’s just lifting the curtain only ever so slightly, at next year’s gamescom. We would love to show the crowd something at that point that would really get them excited.
Chris, thank you very much for the interview! |
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Get Airbourne!
