Dante's Inferno Studio Thrilled with EA's Marketing Support

It's only February, but the most anticipated non-BioWare game of 2010 from Electronic Arts might already be upon us. We're referring to Dante's Inferno, the newest game franchise from developer Visceral Games. The acclaimed Dead Space really helped put the internal EA studio on the map and the early buzz is that Dante's Inferno will be the publisher's best reviewed game all year. While we wait for the reviews to come in, one thing has been made clear: EA is pushing Dante's Inferno big time. The Dante's Inferno ad campaign has already had several odd and creative elements, but the crown jewel will no doubt be the ad airing during the Super Bowl. In part one of our interview series examining the game and its promotions, we talked with Executive Producer Jonathan Knight.

IndustryGamers: So how much of the marketing has seen input from Visceral?  

Jonathan Knight: A fair amount. As the executive producer, I'm involved in the marketing and the PR, so it's been a collaboration with those teams. Most of the ideas coming from the marketing agency have been great; when those protestors showed up at E3 2009, they kept me in the dark to get a better reaction! I've been meeting with the marketing group for over two years, from when we barely had a game, and making sure that PR is on the same page. 

IG: How much input does Visceral have into the trailers?

JK: We review that stuff when it's in its rough forms and provide the assets and communicate what we want to tell the consumers.

IG: How excited were you when you found out there would be a Super Bowl spot?

JK: Super stoked! For a dev team that works as hard as we do, and there's so much passion from them since they're hardcore gamers, the ultimate is when you get that marketing support. At EA, we're absolutely about backing our games with marketing, like with Mass Effect 2 during the NFL championship games. When the company is getting behind you like this, you feel like your hard work is given every opportunity to succeed. The Super Bowl is the grandaddy of marketing.

IG: What's the early feedback been for the game?

JK: Our trends are really good, and we've got some scores out that are very good. Out of Europe, there's a 90 and a 93. We believe it will do well, but I'm done, it's in the box, and it's kind of fun to watch the last couple weeks unfold.

IG: I know you can't announce anything now, but would you be interested in doing a sequel?

JK: I've read the entire divine comedy and I've given it some thought, but there are no plans. We are working on expansions to Dante's Inferno that will be coming out soon, like a prequel campaign that shows the dark forest and unveil.

IG: So putting out a game based upon the Inferno... was this a realization of a lifelong dream for you?

JK: I have a dual degree in theater and programming. I had classical training at the University of Boston, and it was great when I put them together for this. I wasn't as big into the Divine Comedy as some people, but I've since developed an appreciation for the layers of the Inferno and the story of Dante and Beatrice and how the unrequited love formed his life's work and how it occurring during the Renaissance and the culmination of hundreds of years of thought into the afterlife influence the epic poem, which took years to complete. 

IG: So is there anything else in your classical studies that you'd like to realize in game form?

JK: Macbeth the game is something I've been thinking about for years, but now, I think the emotional quality that games are achieving and the value level of the acting and the sound work makes it possible. The thing is, the unique quality of games is being interactive; it's about action and killing things and pursuing those mechanics is tricky when bringing in classic media; Dante's is more of a violent interpretation of the poem for example. Macbeth would be great, though; there are witches and a supernatural experience along with plenty of intrigue and murder.

IG: What are you looking to do next at Visceral? Is your attention solely on Dead Space 2?

JK: That's next up for us. There's a different executive producer on it. It's moving into full production and the company is excited about it. I've seen it internally, and it's looking incredible. They have some great ideas – it's still a space horror piece, but they've expanded upon the first game nicely.

With both Dead Space and Dante's we have projects that are going beyond games; with Dante's it's an animated movie that is a really cool companion piece. We've also done an action figure and a comic book series that we've supervised. We're publishing the poem, with images from the game and comparing it to centuries' worth of artwork based on the Inferno so you can see where some of the inspirations came from.

IG: Now, maybe you could confirm a rumor for me - I heard at a certain point in the game when Dante's descending through Hell, he passes Kratos and they high-five each other. 

JK: Haha. That would be awesome, but no, that's not in there. 

IG: You should totally approach Sony Computer Entertainment and see about trying to include Kratos in Dante's Inferno.

JK: That would be great. It'd be hard to choose just what level of hell was appropriate for Kratos – so many are applicable!

IG: Haha, true enough... though we think he best embodies “anger” or “violence.” Thanks Jonathan.