This spring season is already seeing a lot of big titles set to arrive, but one that’s sure to be a hit with shooter fans is Deep Silver’s Homefront: The Revolution. It’s a fast-paced action game that takes place in an alternate world where Korea became a world power and took occupancy of the U.S. Its cooperative multiplayer components, combined with a moody atmosphere and solid controls, should make it a big hit.
The publisher, Deep Silver, has already pushed some elaborate promotional campaigns into action. One involved a special 6-hour Twitch event that took place last week, where a number of streaming superstars (like Angry Joe, Amie Lynn, and DansGaming) worked together in the game’s cooperative play. This event was hosted by Adam Sessler, and special behind-the-scenes content was livestreamed through Periscope. The other introduces a fictitious technology company called APeX, which is this new world’s Apple, but also develops military gear helps the Korean army come to power.
[a]listdaily had a chance to chat with senior manager of marketing and communications, Will Powers, about these promotions, as well as the challenges of building an all-new Homefront game from the ground up.
Does Homefront: The Revolution pick up where the original game left off years ago?
It’s important to distinguish that Homefront: The Revolution is not Homefront 2. When the IP was acquired, we did an entire narrative reboot of the franchise, and the only thing that remained at its core was that North Korea had occupied the United States. For the purposes of Homefront: The Revolution, the events that took place in THQ’s Homefront never happened.
What challenges did the development team face when it came to establishing a new storyline?
Because the development team was building this world from the ground up, it was less of a challenge and more of a breath of fresh air. They had the liberating sense of being able to take the story in whatever direction they wanted without the confines of playing into someone else’s fiction. The results are an incredibly rich and deep lore for this universe dating back to the 1950s.
What new gameplay features are Dambuster Studios implementing into this Homefront? Will it have a huge online multiplayer emphasis?
The gameplay, and just general expansiveness of the world, will be on a completely different level than the original Homefront. For example, as THQ’s game was a 5-hour linear FPS, and we’re touting a 30+ hour open-world, narrative-driven single-player campaign. In addition to the rich fiction established in the single player, we’ll also launch with a cooperative multiplayer mode (Resistance Mode) where up to four players will take part in bespoke hit-and-run strike scenarios. The developers have also committed to a year’s worth of free multiplayer support, which equates to doubling the amount of multiplayer content available to players. And, as I said… all for free!
Looks like this past week’s livestream for Homefront: The Revolution was a complete success. How did the team at Deep Silver put it together, and how did you select the streamers?
This event has been my baby, but actually really only came together in the past month. Obviously, we recognize that Twitch is an essential medium for communicating directly to our fans, and we did so by getting the highest quality product and talent in front of them for a 6-hour showcase. “Homefront LIVE” rocketed Deep Silver’s Twitch channel from 20,000 lifetime views to just shy of 1,000,000 in one stream! The focus, when it came to casting talent, was all about personalities, but not just individual ones. We needed ones that could play well with each other. That, of course, is because the event was made to show off the cooperative multiplayer mode. So if these streamers didn’t have chemistry with each other, then it was all for naught. Long story, short–amazing people and personalities like Angry Joe, Rooster Teeth, Adam Sessler, and Wes The Editor made this event what it was.
What is APeX, and how did you come up with a fake company promotion?
What sets Homefront as an IP apart from other shooters in the space is the premise and the fiction of the universe. There is something horrifying about the thought of being an oppressed population within your own country, and the game doubles down on these fears by making the city and the world feel “familiar yet alien.” APeX is the company that has allowed North Korea to establish itself as a world superpower in our fiction, so it only makes sense that we put this company and this lore front and center in our marketing campaign.
Is it true your team actually sent a number of phones to members of the press and social media to hype APeX?
Short answer. Yes. Working phones were shipped out to select press, tech and gaming, with no indication that they were tied to Homefront: The Revolution. On the phone was one video file which would send them down a breadcrumb trail to realize that this all circles back to the game. Hilariously though, the return address was Pyongyang, DPRK, so a lot of people were really intrigued.
What has the feedback been from the recent multiplayer beta? Does your team feel it has the potential for eSports?
I feel like eSports might be a bit of a far cry from what we’re offering here since we’re focused on cooperative multiplayer. Despite that, people have been loving what they’ve played, and in the recent event we did with Twitch, Homefront LIVE, the game’s co-op proved to be thrilling and exciting with the competitive twist we put on it for the purposes of hosting a live tournament. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see how the market responds.
Homefront: The Revolution arrives on May 17th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
