Wizardry 8’s Ian Currie on the Delay

If you’re as anxious to get your hands on Wizardry 8 as I am, you’ve no doubt noticed that there’s a slight snag. The game they funded by themselves has yet to elope with a publisher. This news in itself is very old news and will continue to be the same story until a thus-far ignorant publisher grows some brains and decides to market the title. Ian Currie, designer for the game, speaks up about the intricacies of the publishing process and about the frustration of not having a worthy game out on the shelves when it’s ready. A handful:

Finding a worthy publisher is not easy in today’s market. In fact, with continued consolidation among Publishers, our choices continue to narrow. As such, finding a Publisher is not as easy as you may think. And let me assure you, if we make a bad choice in a publisher – one who will not provide visibility for the title – this poor choice could bring an abrupt end to future products in the series. Let’s face it, you could have quality abound in a product, but if it fails to receive distribution, no consumer will buy it. Now try and get funding and/or a publishing contract for a product line which suffered from poor distribution and thus sales. It’s impossible!!!!!