During a visit to China to preview Phantom Blade Zero, we sat down with S, the game's director, to chat about their first meeting with PlayStation.
The story of Phantom Blade Zero's development is a wild one. S-Game, the developer, had previously worked on smaller games and mobile titles, but an encounter with PlayStation's executives changed everything.
The studio has been aided by investment from the likes of Tencent, but their agreement with PlayStation came as a result of an impressive trailer and some good timing. During a visit to Beijing to see Phantom Blade Zero in action, I sat down with the game's director, Soulframe, to chat about that pivotal moment.
"So we were two guys, very young guys with fresh faces, and we just walked into the executive conference of PlayStation. We just met a business guy. We showed him this mockup, a very rough mockup compared to what you see now. So that guy was impressed," he explains, confirming that the meeting was a pretty standard, 'showing off new game' one.
However, the meeting didn't end there. "So, very luckily, Christian [Svensson] and Shuhei Yoshida and all the big guys are beside our table," he recalls. "So the business guy called all of them to come by to watch the trailer, and Christian said, 'Holy shit! Who are you? This is so impressive,' and so they invited us to join their showcase in 2023." That was the first time S-Game had been involved in a show like that, unexpectedly revealing their game on the world stage.
"That was actually quite a successful showcase in general," S says. "All of the games were very impressive, including Marvel's Spider-Man 2. That was one of the greatest events in recent years. But in the very beginning, we thought, okay, we will just be there because we only have two months to prepare, to polish what we have on hand. If you ask for more, we don't have it, so we just compile everything and polish what we have on hand to do a three-minute trailer, and we think, 'okay, maybe it's good to put our stuff on, and maybe people will have some kind of impression.'"
That decision was a good one, as the Phantom Blade Zero trailer went on to be the second most viewed trailer from that showcase, after Insomniac's Spider-Man 2. Three years later, S-Game's title has its own State of Play, and the studio has partnered closely with PlayStation in the run-up to launch.
Phantom Blade Zero launches on PlayStation 5 and PC on October 29, and you can read our thoughts after six hours of hands-on time here.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pcgamesn.com/phantom-blade-zero/playstations-first-reaction-interview
