Wednesday, January 9, 2008 Deadlines and Release Dates

As I make every effort to establish "Spirit Blade Productions" as a quality brand, I'm re-thinking some ideas about "release dates". Don't worry, I'm not projecting any major lag in the release of "Dark Ritual", but if it ends up taking a "summer release" to produce the quality I'm demanding of myself, I certainly don't plan to rush things to have a mediocre product out "on time".

Given that I report each week on both this blog and our podcast regarding production work updates, I'm considering no longer placing "release dates" on any projects until they are no more than a month of being ready.

There's a precedent for this kind of "release date neglect" with companies like "Blizzard" (the producers of the Diablo and World of Warcraft pc games) and "Fantasy Flight Games" (producers of "Descent" and a ton of great sci-fi fantasy boardgames). However, I'd like to get your feedback on this idea.

Would you prefer I place release dates or estimates on our website at the risk of not meeting the deadline, or should I simply list a year for a project's release and refer web surfers to our blog and podcast for updates? You also may have a different idea. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks everybody!

-Paeter Frandsen