Adhesive games focusing on new player versus environment gameplay.
What role has fan feedback played in how you're developing for HAWKEN?
The world of HAWKEN has a tremendously wide range of fans, from people who love the moment-to-moment competitive action to those who simply wish to experience the awesome HAWKEN universe in a safe environment with their friends. Fan feedback has played a huge role in the development of the game, especially considering the broad range of features we look to provide. It’s really important to us that we don’t just interact with fans who play the game every day, but also with fans who played at one point but have slowed their playing down for one reason or another. For example, one of the biggest pieces of feedback we received from fans of all skill levels is they wanted to experience the fun of HAWKEN in a less competitive environment, so we’ve been working on our co-op mode which has so far received high praise in our internal testing. We also received a lot of feedback about how players wanted more options to help differentiate their play style with each of their mechs, so we added in a number of different customization options through updates, including the release of a more support-focused mech. Each time we add a new feature like this we see retention increase among all types of users.
How often are you updating HAWKEN?
We did have a rather large update that we released in September, which took a few months to develop so there was a period of time when we weren’t updating as often as we had in the past. Now that our Ascension patch is out, we are transitioning back to a release schedule of every four to five weeks. Each update has its own focus and this upcoming patch not only focuses on our new co-op mode, but also includes a new mech release. Next month we have a new map for players and it looks so different than anything we’ve released before. Overall, we have a great mix of features and content to keep providing players every month, so they’ll always have something new to experience.
What opportunities do you see with eSports with HAWKEN?
HAWKEN is such a uniquely different game than any other one on the market and we’re looking to take advantage of this fact with our eSports strategy. We spend a considerable amount of time talking with our highest skilled players, often face-to-face in order to understand the ways this unique demographic likes to play the game. It’s important for us that we build our features to highlight this differentiation. Early next year we’ll be holding some early tests of these new competitive focused features and we couldn’t be more excited for what it will bring to the HAWKEN eSport community.
What's next for the game?
We have a very long list of features and content we want to release for the game so there is plenty for us to work on and even though that’s the case, we are in open beta and want to make sure that our core features have the strength necessary to help support what we want to add to HAWKEN. We will have more of the mechs, maps and customization options that players love but we’re also putting a priority on social features and the strength of core features like our matchmaking system. Players can look forward to competing in clans, comparing their progress with others, easier way to play with their friends and rewards earned simply for playing. Take all of this is in addition to that continued unique style of HAWKEN customization, modes and new mechs and players will have a wealth to always experience. We’re truly excited about what’s coming next for HAWKEN and we can’t thank our community enough for their feedback.
