Peak developer Aggro Crab has hit back at “friends” haters, insisting there is a place for co-op games that “deliver a distinct experience”, especially because they can be “very cost-effective for an indie production.”
I'm talking to GamesRadar+Studio head Nick Kaman said that while these games may “refuse traditional measures of quality,” some players just want to hang out with friends and have fun – and that's what “friend games” confound. […] front and center of the experience.”
“There's a backlash because sometimes these games eschew traditional quality indicators like polished graphics or story, but these games aren't Game of the Year contenders, they're focused on delivering a specific experience, and that can make them very cost-effective for indie productions,” Kaman said.
While he admits that “as with any popular genre, you get a lot of quick followers and low-quality attempts flooding storefronts,” he believes that “being a hater is mostly just fun, especially when a term like 'friends' is so racy.”
“In online worlds there is a real desire to socialize and hang out, and playing with friends puts that at the forefront,” Kaman added. “These games emphasize teamwork and communication rather than just testing your individual skills as a group.”
Peak, which follows a string of other multi-million-dollar sales from publisher Landfall including Content Warning and Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, is now available on Steam. Eurogamer Editor Christian Donlan called Peak his “new gaming obsession” earlier this year.writing: “Great climbing, great fun, very clean look at design. And maybe stay away from mushrooms. At least some of them.”
In fact, it was so successful that it spawned so many clones, and the team behind it indie hit would prefer my community pirate your own game rather than play a rip-off game “riddled with microtransactions”.
