We interview Jacek Zięba, producer of The Medium

What it's like to work with Microsoft, inspirations of The Medium, future projects. We chatted with Jacek Zięba, producer of The Medium and we tell you everything exclusively.

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Since Bloober Team officially announced their new horror game, The Medium, at Generación Xbox, we’ve been following the game’s trajectory and were eager to learn more about its development. This interest led us to contact the studio to ask them a few questions that would give us more insight into The Medium and Bloober Team in general.

In this interview with Jacek Zięba, the game’s producer, we wanted to know what it’s like to work with Microsoft, what inspired the creation of The Medium, and other interesting details about the Polish studio’s immediate future. The studio didn’t hesitate to answer any of our questions and revealed their motivations and previously unknown details about the game and the team.

Jacek Zięba, producer of The Medium

GX: The Medium is generating high expectations among players. Is this the best work the studio has done to date?

• Jacek Zięba: Yes, because we’re trying something that no one else has done. With the “dual reality” concept, we’re introducing a new gameplay element to players.

GX: It’s evident that you love Silent Hill, and many compare The Medium to Konami’s games. How far do these similarities or inspirations go?

• Jacek Zięba: In our opinion, Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror games of all time. Both Silent Hill 2 and the Silent Hill series have always been a great inspiration for us when it comes to ‘psychological horror’ games. With The Medium, Silent Hill 2 was one of the main inspirations for the game’s atmosphere. When playing The Medium, players familiar with the Silent Hill series will experience similar themes and aesthetics in our game, especially in terms of the overall atmosphere.

GX: How did the idea of collaborating with Akira Yamaoka on The Medium come about?

• Jacek Zięba: As you may have noticed, we’re big fans of Silent Hill here at Bloober Team, and many of us grew up playing Silent Hill games, so the series was a huge inspiration for us when creating The Medium. When we started thinking about who should co-create the music for The Medium with us, Akira was an obvious and unanimous choice. Who better to work with than the creator of the music for the game series that inspires us? It was a great honor and pleasure to work with Akira Yamaoka on The Medium.

GX: Was it complicated to develop The Medium for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S? Are these consoles really that powerful?

• Jacek Zięba: With each console generation, they get closer to PC technology and power, which undoubtedly makes it easier to develop games for them and helps us bring our vision to life. The Xbox Series X is currently one of the most powerful consoles, so we haven’t had any problems with development. The Xbox Series S may not have all the advantages of the Series X and requires a bit more attention, but it hasn’t caused us any problems either.

GX: From the outside, it seems like you have a good relationship with Microsoft. Is it easy to work with them?

• Jacek Zięba: Microsoft has been the perfect partner. They always understand our philosophy and games, and they try to help us in every way possible without trying to influence the game’s development. They appreciate and respect what we do, which is exactly what we needed.

GX: What do you think about Xbox Game Pass? Is it an advantage for developers?

• Jacek Zięba: It depends on how Microsoft supports games on Game Pass when they launch. For us at Bloober Team, they’ve been a perfect partner, and we’re certainly satisfied with the support they’ve given us. It’s a great opportunity to reach people who wouldn’t normally play our game, but over time, we’ll see the benefits.

GX: Ray Tracing, 4K, SSD – these are the magic words of the new generation. Does The Medium take advantage of all these features?

• Jacek Zięba: Ray Tracing, 4K, SSD – yes, we use all these types of magic.

GX: Going back to Silent Hill, would you like Konami to let you create a new game in the series?

• Jacek Zięba: It would be a great honor, but also probably our biggest challenge in the company’s history – working with a brand like Silent Hill. I think for most of us, it would be a dream come true and an opportunity for the Bloober Team to grow and establish itself as one of the leading horror game developers in the world.

Working with a brand like Silent Hill would be a dream come true for most of us - ¡Comparte!    

GX: After The Medium, what’s the next step for Bloober Team?

• Jacek Zięba: Our focus is currently on The Medium.

GX: How many people are currently working at Bloober Team? Where is the studio’s goal? You keep growing…

• There are over 100 people working at Bloober, and the number is still growing. We’re continuously taking steps towards the AAA segment. Our goal is always to be the best horror game developer in the world. However, we never want to lose what we are, our DNA, so we take our time to grow.

GX: 2020 has been a strange year for everyone due to Covid-19. Has it affected the game’s development?

• Jacek Zięba: When we switched to working from home, it was a smooth transition, but since we’re not all working together in the same room, some things take a bit longer. Due to the Covid-19 situation in Poland, we’ve delayed The Medium until January 28, 2021. This extra time will allow us to deliver our vision of an innovative psychological horror experience.

GX: What’s your favorite horror game series?

• Jacek Zięba: I love Silent Hill, of course, but especially the second part of the series. When it comes to a series, I’d say Resident Evil. It’s a series that changed my life, and now I have a terrible addiction to horror movies and zombies. I’m very happy about its return in the form of remakes, which I’ve been playing over and over since they came out.

GX: A wish for 2021…

• Jacek Zięba: I wish for a less crazy year around the world. I also wish that we, as people, draw the right conclusions from 2020 and maybe rethink what’s important in life and what’s worth focusing on, and start introducing it into our daily lives. There are probably many more challenges ahead, but together, it will be easier for us to face them.

The Medium will finally be available on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on January 28, 2021.

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This content has been automatically translated from the original material. Due to the nuances of machine translation, there may be slight differences. For the original version,click here.