Is there anything more vital than being up on your industry? Whether you're an ambitious up-and-coming writer or a mildly curious video game fan, what producers, developers and publishers have to say and pass on is the most raw, immediate, fascinating information circulating in gaming. We offer you a new, more personal way to get to know the top dogs of games.

For this debut of Loading Reality's new Know Your Industry series, we present the following candid conversation we were fortunate enough to have with David Hoffman, one of the top producers in the industry and a current executive at Square Enix. The discussion topics run the gamut from Square business tactics, the legitimacy of free-to-play games and being big-boned. Enjoy.

Loading Reality: Hey David, thanks for taking the time to sit down with Loading Reality. Starting off, could you list the myriad of past positions you’ve held throughout the gaming industry for our readers, tell us which has been your favorite and why?

David Hoffman: My first position ever was “Fanboy” back in the early 80’s, armed with an Apple 2E and an Atari 2600. I played the crap out of Ultima II, Archon, Bard’s Tale, Zork, Sammy Lightfoot any Scott Adam’s adventure! Boy, I’m showing my age here!

In 89’ I started in the warehouse where I worked for a gaming company called Kemco-Seika. I got promoted to Game Counselor / Customer Service. Then around ‘91 I was at Winter CES and started talking to the executives at American Sammy. Before I realized it, I received an offer to work at American Sammy. Now, I’m a loyal guy so I took the offer back to Kemco-Seika, but all they did was say that I couldn’t handle the job responsibilities from Sammy and that I should just stay put.

Whatever. I took the job with American Sammy (Sammy Studios now) as a Game Counselor and 6 months later was promoted to Marketing Manager. American Sammy eventually ceased operations in L.A. and moved to Chicago. I was offered to be relocated but refused as (like the song goes) I love L.A.

Moving onward, I was hired at Data East with the title “New Product Planner” which basically means business development but back then we didn’t really have BD or PD so New Product Planner was the title I got (still have the business card to prove it).

After Data East’s pinball division was acquired by Sega the console business lost momentum and I put myself on the market. I was, pretty much immediately, hired at Playmates Interactive Entertainment as a Producer.

Playmates eventually decided to focus on toys, not video games, and that’s when I parted ways and joined THQ as Sr. Producer. At THQ, I was in charge of wrestling, fishing and anything extreme sports related. I worked for some talented executives at THQ which were eventually replaced by talentless executives and that is when I quit. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stay in Los Angeles or take a job with EA Canada. I eventually decided to stay in the good old USA and started at Conspiracy Entertainment as an Executive Producer and ended up being there for 6 years.

Following that, I again couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to Eidos or OG Planet and since everyone knew that Eidos was for sale, I figured it was a safer bet to go with OGPlanet, not to mention getting some free-to-play experience under my belt.

So I dipped my toe in the pool of the F2P market at OG Planet as Director of Production and launched Cabal Online. Then I got a call from Square Enix and heard all about their ideas to globalize the product line and I was (and still am) honored to be a central part of that plan.

I’m currently with Square Enix as Director of Business Development and Executive Producer.

LR: Wow, that’s quite the impressive, colorful resume. What has it been like working at so many incredibly different companies?

DH: In one word: amazing. The things that I have witnessed firsthand and the fact that I have helped shaped the gaming industry into what it is today is phenomenal. I’m actually writing a book about this very subject so stay tuned.

LR: How has this past year been for you at Square Enix? How different is it from your many other positions?

DH: Square Enix is a fantastic company and the main thing that separates it from every other company I’ve worked at is the fact that they are devoted to quality in the products and the top executives are forward thinkers. For example, when I brought Neversoft to THQ and proposed that THQ enter into the initial stages of an M/A agreement to buy Neversoft, THQ literally laughed and considered Neversoft nothing more than a flash in the pan. It looks like Activision is the one laughing now. If that same scenario happened here at Square Enix, it would be taken seriously and considered. Very different indeed!

LR: How do you feel being the "American" in a firmly established Japanese company? How do you feel about being that link between American developers and Square Enix, two things that rarely go together?

DH: American? Am I? I thought I was from Japan and that I was just, ummm, “different”. I mean, I could never find clothes to fit me in Japan but my mother said I was just big boned!

LR: My apologies, David “Big Boned” Hoffman. How big of a Final Fantasy/Squaresoft nerd are you? Is this a dream gig for you or just a nice job?

DH: Dude, come on. Final Fantasy 2 on the NES was the only game I’ve ever played that emotionally moved me. I’m thrilled to be working for Square Enix and truly believe that the commitment to quality is the highest I’ve ever experienced in the gaming business.

LR: What’s your absolute favorite Square game?

DH: Crisis Core. Because it rules hard

LR: With 100+ games under your belt, what is the one that you simply enjoyed working on because it was that fun?

DH: The most fun I ever had working on a project was called Switch/Panic for the Sega CD. During the VO session we were laughing so hard we had to take multiple takes! Play it and let me know if it isn’t the most bizarre and fun game you’ve ever seen.

LR: Which game amazed you because of people’s response to it, good or bad?

DH: Probably WCW vs. NWO Revenge. I was simply amazed at the amount of fan letters I received claiming how great the game was. The fan outpouring was truly amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before.

LR: What past game that you've worked on are you most proud of?

DH: That’s a tough question. Each game is a labor of love, blood, sweat and tears so to put on a pedestal above others is really tough to do. It’s like asking the Octomom which kid she loves most. It may sound lame but I really can’t choose. I love them all and am proud of each game from bargain bin castoffs to AAA titles for individual aspects.

LR: What makes you feel warmer inside: your glowing praise and reviews (including the first 100% from GamesMaster) for Earthworm Jim or the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences award you won for WCW vs. NWO Revenge?

DH: Neither. I am thrilled that some of the titles I worked on got more notoriety and praise than others, but what makes me truly warm inside is when I’m in a retail gaming store and hearing gamers talk about a particular level of a game that I produced.

LR: As a producer working with gamers (proven by science to be the laziest of all beings), what are your tricks to keeping everyone motivated? Do they or do they not involve Monster energy drinks?

DH: Lo-carb Monster Energy drinks! Get it right! Honestly, I’m an enthusiastic, positive person and that is contagious. When I’m in meetings with teams and I start going off on my tangents it spurs ideas and creativity, and suddenly everyone gets motivated. I guess it’s why I do what I do.

LR: What is the greatest challenge when trying to keep a game under budget?

DH: Oh that’s easy, phew. Pre-planning and knowing when to lock features. The single largest thing that blows the budget is not planning enough in advance and continuing to iterate on features and add technology to a product well under way. Keep those things in check and you’ll be sitting pretty.

How many revisions of the game design did we go through on Supreme Commander 2, Chris?

LR: How different is producing an MMO vs. a traditional video game?

DH: MMO’s are way tougher to produce. Trust me on that one. I literally sent my wife and daughter to Colorado one Christmas and just stayed home working on the quest lines for Cabal Online. I literally worked morning, noon and night for two weeks straight and still didn’t finish the file. As a side note, my eyes were literally bugging out at the end of the two weeks. I got damn close though! The other thing that bites is the fact that once you go into commercial service, the work has only just begun versus working on a console title where commercial service is almost the end of the production.

LR: Seeing as you worked with them for a while, do you ever see microtransactions going mainstream as a business model here in the U.S.? Or were people too burned by horse armor-type situations? And why do you think it's so much more viable outside of the U.S.?

DH: I said it a million times and I’ll say it again: F2P and microcash transactions can be the wave of the future IF we as American’s can get over the hurdle that “free” is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just been burned into our brain since we were children. On the other side of the coin, the developers need to ‘bone up’ the quality level on the F2P products and event planning. When I joined OGPlanet, a F2P company, they were selling Korean-traditional clothing as a “hot” microcash transaction. Now, I’m not against traditional clothing, but how small of an audience does that appeal to? 5 %… maybe? Since the Super Bowl was around the corner, I convinced the developer to design jerseys sporting various team colors (blue and white – SD Chargers for example) and even though the developers were kicking and screaming about it, guess what? Sales jumped 60%!

Before I left OG Planet I put together a year’s worth of events and items for the microcash transactions and to the best of my knowledge they are still using that plan today. So, if we can get over our fears and the developers could raise the quality bar then yes it will become much more mainstream. But that’s a big if…

LR: What, in your opinion, needs to happen next in the games industry that hasn't yet?

DH: Well, let’s see… Apple needs to figure out how to promote and control quality on the iPhone. The games on there are either rip-offs or just plain suck for the most part. Sony needs to cut their price on the PS3. DRM needs to either go away or come up with an all-inclusive solution. Brick and mortar needs to stop peddling used games. Lame licenses need to stop being pitched. Oh and most importantly, Blizzard needs to release World of Starcraft. So get busy!

LR: Looking at the upcoming releases this year, where's it at for you? What game are you personally buzzing about?

DH: I’m Executive Producer for Supreme Commander 2, so I’m totally excited about working on it. It’s going to rock. We’ve won 3 awards already!

LR: What’s your favorite game of all time if such a beast exists?

DH: Hmm, that’s a tough question. I really enjoyed playing Gyruss at the arcade when I was young. Zaxxon and Defender were great also. Battle Zone, Narc, Joust… all my favorites. I love games and I don’t have a single favorite. All of them are great – OK, maybe not all of them.

LR: And finally, what game are you currently obsessed with?

DH: Well, I kicked the World of Warcraft habit (yeah), but I’m playing Star Ocean on the 360 now, spending time with Rock Band 2 and was thinking about opening Prince of Persia.


Know Your Industry is a special series of exclusive interviews conducted by Loading Reality designed to highlight all corners of the games industry. Look for the next installment soon.

Written by :

Aaron

 

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