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Posted on June 21, 2012, Phil Hornshaw Double Fine to Big Publishers: Embrace Change, Or Miss the Revolution

NOTE: This is a portion of an interview from a five-part video series with Wil Wheaton. Watch the rest of the interview here, and check out Game Front’s E3 Channel for more news, previews and Wil Wheaton videos!

There’s a revolution happening in gaming right now, as Double Fine Productions’ Ron Gilbert sees it. As digital distribution advances, smaller developers are creating more intimate relationships with their fanbases and players, and that’s something that is changing the larger video game landscape.

Speaking with Game Front video host Wil Wheaton at E3 2012, Gilbert and Tim Schafer discussed their view that bigger publishers need to stop resisting lower price points and building a positive relationship with their fans.

“I think they (publishers) are going have to (change the way they interact with players) because the world is changing and small developers are getting these personal relationships with their fans and people that play the games, and I think the really big publishers need to embrace that or they’re really gonna miss this whole kind of revolution that’s happening right now,” Gilbert said.

From Schafer’s point of view, it seems, publishers are resisting changing the way they do business in video games because they are afraid of change that’s happening whether they like it or not.

“I’m a little scared, well, for them, because I see a lot of resistance to it. ‘Well, that’s someone else’s business — we don’t want to be in a race to zero,’ or something like that,” Schafer said. “I think they’re going to see a lot of migration from developers and fans to more open environments like that, for sure.”

Be sure to check out the rest of our series of Wil’s interviews with developers from E3 2012, including with Skyrim’s Todd Howard, Robert Bowling of Robotoki, Far Cry Lead Writer Jeffrey Yohalem and CD Projekt Red execs Marcin Iwinski and Adam Badowski.