GRTV: Cryptic on Neverwinter

{Neverwinter}, the new Dungeons & Dragon MMORPG from Cryptic Studios, is closing on its release date and we caught up with Cryptic COO Craig Zinkievich to learn about The Foundry and more.

"We always wanted to make {Neverwinter} into an MMO. What we were able to do with, you know, budgets and timeframes you know, you make the choices that you need to. We've been making MMOs for almost ten years now from {City of Heroes}, Champions, {Star Trek Online} and we want to make {Neverwinter} into an MMO - so being given that opportunity is fantastic."

On user generated content (through The Foundry), Zinkievich said:

"You can't make a {Neverwinter} game, I mean you have {Neverwinter Nights}, Neverwinter Nights II legacy of user generated content. There is no way to make {Neverwinter} without that user generated content."

Zinkievich also the possibility of skilled creators not only earning in-game currency for their work, but potentially even real money through the game. When asked how he feels Cryptic DNA is inserted into the game he responded:

"I think it is the evolution of what Cryptic has learned, what Cryptic has done. You can look at our past products, you can see that each one of them we've learned something and added something to the game. We're super lucky to be able to have worked on multiple comic book properties, we've been able to work on Star Trek and now we get to work on Dungeons & Dragons. So being able to work on all these core geek properties is just getting us superexcited, so maybe that's part of it."

Neverwinter is planned for release early next year.