Supergiant Games: DLC and in-game transactions make games less "atmospheric"

Greg Kasavin, creative director of Supergiant Games, has said games based around in-game transactions and downloadable content can made it hard for the player to have an "atmospheric" experience.

Speaking during a Eurogamer-attend GDC panel Kasavin said asking players to spend money on game additions is a "really tricky and a really tough problem."

"If your business goal is to make many bits of content and have in-games stores and stuff like that, I don't know how compatible that is to having an atmospheric experience. I think it's pretty tough," he said.

"I think when the game asks you to pay real money it's hard to make it atmospheric. In fact I've never played a game that has achieved that."

Kasavin used social titles such as those produced by Zynga as examples which in his opinion cannot offer a sense of immersion or atmosphere as pop-ups encouraging players to play other titles or visit the store for power-ups and the like "shatter the fourth wall with a baseball bat".

"Certain design decisions make achieving atmosphere virtually impossible," he said. "I can't imagine how somebody could have an atmospheric experience playing something like Mafia Wars 2.

"Because this is a game that is constantly prompting you to go and play a completely different game."