Westwood Innovators?

[Gobalopper]

In probably one of his longest posts on the messageboard Delphi defended Westwood when someone said that Westwood had little innovation. This was his reply:

Innovation! What is it really? How does a developer define innovation?

Well, by saying that Westwood is not an innovative company is a slap. If that were the case, we would not be here today.

Our goal is to create games that everyone can play and enjoy, games that contain an entertaining story (not everyone plays multiplayer), an easy to use interface, exciting units, and unique tactics. Every developer has their own formula, well Blizzard borrowed ours, but that's what makes the games unique. Some formulas work (Red Alert 2, StarCraft, AOE2, Shogun, and TA) some don't (Homeworld, Dark Reign 2, Sudden Strike, and Earth 2150). Innovation is not something that comes quickly, but is added over time. Was HomeWorld a 1 million seller? No, they did too much to fast and it was merely a hardcore 100,000 selling game. Sure, the press loved it, but they like anything that supports the latest technology and has a ton of bells and whistles.

Will Emperor move the genre ahead by 10 years, no. But it will deliver a cool new way to play 3D RTS games, and give fans a ton of exciting new features, a cool story, 3 Sides, unique units, and an easy-to-use interface that even the most novice RTS player can get the hang of.

Will we continue to push the RTS genre forward? YES! The RA2 and C&C teams are currently working on designs and concepts that are years ahead of our current games. Of course I can't say anything, just the nature of the job. :(

Our main focus has and always will be fun. We like to make sure all our fans have a good time playing our games. - LINK

Are you still pushing the RTS genre forward if the game is merely expanding on features introduced in other games that didn't sell as well? Westwood games have always been fun but I think they have lost that "new" feeling found in their older titles. Let's hope Emperor brings some of that back...