Clement Nicolin of Nacon, the publishers of Rugby 22 has spoken to us about some exciting plans for their game. We’ve also been given a sneak peak at some future improvements coming to Rugby 22!
Rugby 22 is finally available, and despite its shortcomings and lack of licensing, I had a fantastic time with it. Despite the obvious financial and scope limits imposed by the fact that the sport isn’t as popular as football or basketball, the developers at Eko Software and Nacon continue to improve each entry.
I had a quick chat with Clement Nicolin, product manager at Nacon (the publisher behind Rugby 22), and learned a little more about the company’s marketing strategy for the game in markets where rugby isn’t as popular as it is in others, as well as other questions about the game’s development cycle and future plans.
Rugby 22’s biggest attraction is the involvement of the All Blacks.
Rugby is a difficult sport to master. With the exception of Argentina and Uruguay, it is generally popular in many nations throughout the globe and is gaining in popularity, but it is still not a widely popular sport in the Americas.
With that stated, it’s difficult not to create a game with a worldwide audience in mind today. What strategy do you have in place to recruit players from these other markets?
Rugby is a rising sport in numerous areas, including the Americas, as you noted, and a video game might be a fun way to learn more about the sport. Rugby 22 was developed by rugby lovers for rugby fans. It’s crucial to be able to include some of the greatest teams from around the globe in the game, and getting the All Blacks (New Zealand’s national rugby team) and the Wallabies (Australia’s national rugby team) this year, along with several European sides, was excellent news.
Rugby 20 was mostly focused on licensees in the Northern Hemisphere. Is this the situation in Rugby 22 as well? Did the team able to get licensing from Southern Hemisphere leagues and national teams for this fresh new version of the game?
We were able to include the national sides of New Zealand and Australia, as well as South African clubs competing in the United Rugby Championship, in Rugby 22. We want to make a game that will appeal to people all across the globe, therefore we’re working hard to be able to add new content every year.
By not publishing your sports titles on an annual basis, you stray from the usual. What is the strategy’s thinking process, and what has the team done to compensate for the increased time between releases?
It takes time to develop and improve games, and as sports fans, we constantly want to make decisions that will result in higher-quality games. We’ll do it even if it means skipping a year. It doesn’t imply this will always be the case; it’s a choice made after each project to assess what our goals for a future game would be and how long it would take to accomplish them.
Could you tell us a little bit more about the new career mode and the potential of forming your own team?
Yes, of course! To begin, there’s the standard “Quick Play” option, in which you may compete with friends and family at home. The main mode, however, is the solo mode, in which you must build your team with a limited budget, compete against other teams in short seasons to finish first in order to advance to a higher division, earn more money to improve your team, and ultimately try to gain access to the best division available and build your dream squad.
Make a team and begin at the bottom, exactly like in the old Winning Eleven Master League days.
Rugby 22 is the first game of its sort to be published on next-generation platforms (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S). In terms of aesthetics and performance, how do these versions compare to the PS4 and Xbox One versions?
We’re at a point in the generation when people are still making the switch from old to new consoles. It was crucial for us to provide a consistent and comprehensive gaming experience across all platforms. In terms of the next-gen versions, you may anticipate improved resolution, fluidity, and loading speeds.
Is there any chance the game will be released on the Switch in the future? It seems like having a rugby game on the move is a dream come true.
This isn’t something we’re planning right now, but it’s something we’re thinking about… maybe in the future!
Finally, do you have any intentions to make Rugby 22 an e-sport with its own competitions and events?
Turning any game into an e-sport, we feel, is a choice that should be made by the community first and foremost. As a result, various towns and sports groups are exploring the possibility of hosting events on Rugby 22, and we are supporting them as much as we can.
As an example:
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