After the successful run of its kung fu action roguelite, Sifu, Sloclap is looking to the future with its $30 5v5 multiplayer soccer game, Rematch. While some felt it would’ve benefited from a free-to-play release, this simply was never even considered at the parisian studio. Speaking to PC Gamer, creative director Pierre Tarno discussed how the best — and possibly only — way to make a commercial success is to just make a good game. “I never considered free-to-play. One of the things I love about making games is that there is no secret formula or anything, but the best way—or maybe actually the only way—to make a commercial success is to just make a very good game.” Further in the interview, Tarno touches on how the studio likes to respect its players, specifically surrounding their intelligence and skills, offering a challenge to players and that if a game is good and unique enough, it can succeed. It helps that the game will be reasonably priced, as well, especially with rising concerns of another game price standard increase. “One of our cultural pillars at Sloclap is respecting our players, respecting their intelligence, respecting their skills. We like challenging gameplay and gamers are a very discerning audience. They are often very analytical, very precise in their assessment of mechanics and what works, what doesn’t, what’s balanced, what’s not balanced, etc. My point is, if you make a game that’s good enough, that’s unique enough—even if players say, ‘Oh, it’s an online game with a competitive edge, it should be free-to-play otherwise it’s dead on arrival’—I think that’s not true. I think that if it’s original and solid, plus very reasonably priced, players will get it.” Rematch releases to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on June 19. Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he's been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he's worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what's he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.