When it comes to remarkable candor and a self-effacing willingness to just tell the world whatever the hell happens to be on his mind, few game designers can rival David Jaffe. The man is a veritable fount of unfiltered viewpoints, some of which result in lengthy Twitter expositions on everything from reviews of Calling All Cars to his fondness for Selena Gomez. Other times, this lack of filter can manifest in the form of hours-long E3 podcasts, which somehow morph into absurdly detailed group therapy sessions, of sorts.
David Jaffe and his eerily glowing butt speaks during one of Giant Bomb's E3 2011 podcasts.
It's a refreshing thing to see from a developer, or at least it would be if he weren't just so soul-crushingly down all of the time. Take his most recent remarks to Eurogamer during E3. When asked about the possibility of a Vita version of his upcoming Twisted Metal reboot, given the recent announcements of Vita versions of other big Sony franchises like Uncharted, WipeOut, LittleBigPlanet, and Killzone, Jaffe stated he had no idea whether one would happen or not, citing no current interest from Sony.
"They haven't yet," he admitted. "Nobody has talked to us, so it's not like 'I can't talk about that' – that's usually what you say when it's in development. Nobody has talked to us."
This evidently set Jaffe off on one of his trademark tangents about Twisted Metal, and how it figures into Sony's longer-term plans.
"When you say 'their big franchises' – I don't know – there are probably people within Sony who look at Twisted Metal and say 'that's a big franchise'. I just met a great sales guy from Australia who came up to me and said how he couldn't wait to promote the game down there.
"There are guys who get it, but there are just as many other people who go 'I don't really get it – is this something we really want to be promoting at the same level as say, Uncharted 3?'
One thing you almost never, ever hear from developers is how their titles compare in terms of marketing and promotion compared with other titles by the same publisher. It's just not done, because there often seems to be an overarching fear of looking insolent or ungrateful to their publishing overlords.
Jaffe sounded even more unsure of things when discussing how Twisted Metal might fare at retail.
"I don't know how this is going to do," he continued. "I don't know whether in 2011 there'll still be a big enough home for us to say 'make another one' or 'make one for the Vita'. We're just stepping back and asking 'we've had a lot of love from the fans, but is that going to translate well beyond break even?' Or are we barely going to cross the threshold of making our money back?"
Most people who have seen Twisted Metal seem to have come away with generally positive impressions, but Jaffe's own question about its place in the world in 2011, alongside the car combat genre in general, has been echoed by others, including our own staff during our E3 live discussions.
Whatever the future holds for the franchise, we'll just keep hoping the future stays bright for David Jaffe. The industry could use a few more personalities like him, if only to once in a while remind us that actual human beings make these things, the kind with real doubts, fears, and anxieties about the products they make and the companies they work with. Never change, Mr. Jaffe. Never change.
