Console ports â??rarely succeedâ?? says Trials dev

The CEO of Trials HD developer RedLynx believes that straight ports of games between platforms are missed opportunities.

Tero Virtala told Develop in an interview that the studio typically looks to release games for several platforms.

“But they all have to reach a certain benchmark of quality,” he said.

“The most important thing is for a title to is to work well on its own platform, and only in very rare cases can that be done by porting a game.”

Virtala offered his view just as Trials HD – an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive – passed the sales milestone of 300,000 units. The game has received widespread critical acclaim.

“With Trials HD, the opportunity to enter into the biggest online console channel [Xbox Live] opened up for us,” he added.

“Of course, as a platform, there was a basis for big commercial success, but only if the game was good enough would that work.

“That’s why focus was put solely into developing an XBLA game, and making it as good as possible.

“Each platform is different; they each have their strengths and limitations,” added Virtala. “In most cases, to fully utilize their strengths, and even turn the limitations into new opportunities, a simple port is not enough.”

Elsewhere in the interview Virtala explains why the studio is avoiding racers for its next few releases, and explains how physics can renovate genres.