He admits most fans are ”content on waiting,” as they don’t want to spoil it. As they don’t have multiplayer is doesn’t get the same traction, but they’ve been number one.
It’s more expensive than most other Early Access titles, weighing in at £34.99, but that’s because of the Kickstarter reward tiers were $55 for beta access.
”It doesn’t do, like, DayZ numbers, that’s for sure,” remarked Fargo. ”It’s been solid. It hit number one in the RPG category for a period of time, and in strategy. So it’s done solid numbers. It’s not a multiplayer game, so you don’t get the same pick-up of, your friends have to buy it too. But it’s been a nice, solid success.”
”And it’s just more money to polish the game even more. Every time we get money from Kickstarter, from a slacker backer or from Steam Early Access, we just pour it right back into the product.”
The real measure of success will come once Wasteland 2 leaves Early Access and sells as a full product.
”Not a lot of people typically sign up for Early Access for a single-player game, that I’ve seen, and for that price,” he says. ”Most people are content on waiting. Most of the comments are, we can’t wait to see it when it finally comes out. There are a lot of Early Access games that are less, like $20. We’re a very different dynamic.”
Fargo explains it wouldn’t have felt right to give a lower price to join the Early Access build. ”Imagine me doing another Kickstarter after sending the signal that, by the way, if you support us early on, we’re going to undercut you later.”
”You have these different groups of people. We have the new audience and then we have my Kickstarter audience. They both have different dynamics. If you didn’t know the backstory you might say, gosh, why are you charging so much for it? But when you know the backstory you understand.”
The current beta build of the RPG doesn’t even include a third of the total game. The studio returned to work in January facing around 7,000 tallied bugs, with Steam Early Access providing a stream of feedback. Currently inXile are working on a major update promising a ”tremendous amount of change” especially with improving AI.
Wasteland 2 has been a long process for Brian Fargo and his studio, with his Kickstarter pitch video parodying the frustration he has had to deal with over the years with publishers. Wasteland 2 Digital Deluxe Edition is on Steam.
