Capcom‘s director of production Adam Boyes has said that the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade are still in their infancy in regards to online console gaming.
Capcom’s recently cancelled downloadable title, Talisman, could not give the same social interaction users get when they play board games.
“We looked at the other games on XBLA and PSN and realised that very few people were willing to sit and play a game for more than an hour. With a regular Talisman match coming in between three-to-five hours, this created an issue with how we would make the game fun and engaging for that whole time,” said Boyes.
“This brings us one thing that we again failed to realise as PSN and XBLA were still in their infancy. Complex board games like Talisman live and die on the social interaction of people.”
“If the people in your match aren’t going to use their headsets, the social aspect of a board game gets completely drained and becomes a slog as you could be sitting there for five minutes waiting for your next turn,” he added.
Boyes does state, however, that board or card games could still succeed on either online service, as long as their not so time consuming.
“I think both board games and card games are great opportunities to create bite-sized experiences for the average XBLA and PSN player. I review hundreds of pitches and we will never close the door to developing a board game or card game that fits our user base.”