Champions Online Interview

Bill Roper continues to make the rounds promoting Champions Online, and his latest interview stop is over at MMORPG.com.
Why was the decision made to push back the launch of Champions?

Bill Roper: We had the opportunity to take a few more weeks to really focus on fine-tuning, balancing, and polishing the game and we took it. It also lets us get in a few last things that were on the bubble, like Crisis Zones for Monster Island and Millennium City. It's fantastic to have the support of Atari to make Champions Online the absolute best day-one experience we can.

MMORPG.com: There are some who believe that pushing back the announced launch of a game is a precursor to player disappointment when the final product is launched, can you speak to that?

Bill Roper: Really? That runs counter to everything that players say in any game I've ever worked on. Beta players are always wanting the developers to take the time needed to make the game great - to kill those last bugs and put as much shine and polish on the game as possible. I've never heard anyone say, "You guys should have taken less time getting the game done." In fact, the disappointment stems from when a team doesn't have the time required to do what they need to for the game.