Tasty!

Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning has been speaking to Eurogamer about his studio's forthcoming titles, and has stated that the forthcoming remake of the original game — Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty — will be one of the most expensive download-only releases on the Wii U eShop.

Lanning has said that he expects to charge around $30 (approximately £18 / 21 Euros) for the game, which he says cost around $5 million to develop — $2 million of his own cash and around $3 million spent previously on assets which have been touched up.

That might sound like a lot, but Lanning is adamant that it represents value for money:

This game will play better, look better, and you'll have more fun with for more hours of play than games you're paying $60 for. That's a promise. And I can say that with absolute confidence. If this had a publisher, the price would be higher and they'd be calling in triple A.

Lanning also revealed that New 'n' Tasty needs to sell 250,000 units to fund the studio's next project, a remake of Abe's Exoddus. If the game shifts 500,000 units, then an all-new instalment in the franchise — The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot — will be put into production. The game is currently on hold, as Lanning feels that it's not worth pursuing without the proper budget in place:

I don't think it's anything less than a $5 million title. So to Kickstart it I think would be a little deceptive and a risk. But if we sell half a million copies [of New 'n' Tasty], that's not going to be a problem.

If I'm doing a new Oddworld game, I'm not going to do it for $2 million. I might do it for five or six. People keep asking me, 'Why don't you Kickstart Oddworld? You could get at least $1 or $2 million.' And I'm like 'What would I do with a couple million on Kickstarter? On a new Oddworld title?' Not much. I could redo Exoddus for a couple million. I could do that. But a new title, which means new characters doing new things and controls that are great - that's where the real time and expenses come from.

If you already have the game and you're just doing a conversion, it's easier. From scratch, I don't think we could do an Oddworld title for a couple million dollars.

Hitting his target shouldn't be an issue — the digital release of Stranger's Wrath HD (another title in the series which is due to hit the Wii U eShop in the near future) sold more copies than the original retail version on the Xbox.

Is New 'n' Tasty a game you're looking forward to personally? Do you think the price being suggested is too high for a download-only game — and a remake at that? Would you like to see more Oddworld games come to the Wii U? Share your feelings with a comment.

[source eurogamer.net]