‘The Cycle: Frontier’ producer has “bet career” on making extraction shooters more welcoming

nme.com:

The Cycle: Frontier, has told NME that he has bet his career on cracking an Escape From Tarkov-style extraction shooter that serves casual audiences.While a number of games and game modes – including Battlefield 2042‘s short-lived Hazard Zone mode – have tried to create a more welcoming version of the extraction shooter genre popularised by hardcore shooter Escape From Tarkov, none have found the same success as Tarkov‘s Battlestate Games.“I thoroughly enjoy Tarkov, but I also think it’s a very fair point to say that’s not aimed for a casual audience,” Lightfoot tells NME. “It’s meant for people that can learn all the weapons, that can fundamentally know all of the really quick routes, and can identify another player’s location based on their audio.”“What we want to do with The Cycle is make sure that this awesome gaming experience […] is also appealing to a more casual audience on PC that isn’t currently well-served by extraction shooters.

We’re able to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to have fun in that, and for me, that’s where I see the gap in the market.

That’s where I think that it’s very difficult for other extraction shooters to be able to reiterate themselves into that gap without compromising their core vision.”Lightfoot added that he “absolutely” thinks The Cycle: Frontier can be the first game to successfully crack that formula and bring it to a wider audience.“That’s my hope – my dream.

That’s what I’ve bet my career on,” said Lightfoot. “That’s why I made the move to Berlin, that’s why I’m here.”“I feel that The Cycle has all the tools at its disposal,” the producer continued. “It has a really dedicated team, really supportive management and we’ve got the backing of Tencent. [Tencent is] taking.