Broken Rules on Chasing Aurora development, sales, regrets, more
Chasing Aurora developer Broken Rules reflected on the game’s development during a GDC 2013 session today.
How did Chasing Aurora begin? Felix Bohatsch said that Nintendo approached the team about making a Wii U launch title while they were busy creating Secrets of Raetikon. The latter project’s multiplayer prototype soon morphed into Chasing Aurora. After five months of development, the game was done.
There was a mix of good and bad while creating Chasing Aorura. Bohatsch noted how there is typically more coverage for launch games, which allowed the title to be discussed by gaming outlets on a regular basis.
However, that didn’t help Chasing Aurora’s sales – even despite promotion on the eShop front page, Wii U owners didn’t pick up the game. Bohatsch attributes the lack of interest to a couple of things. First, “people thought $15 was pricey” for a downloadable title. Players were also preoccupied with larger, retail titles and seemingly skipped past Chasing Aurora.
Making Chasing Aurora a Wii U exclusive was a bit of a mistake, Bohatsch believes. The heavy use of the GamePad in particular makes it almost impossible for ports to be brought to other platforms.
Broken Rules’ next game is indeed Secrets of Raetikon. Unfortunately, in the immediate future, the studio doesn’t have plans for a Wii U version.
