Racine is obviously proud of his team's work on Wet but was disappointed that it got caught up in the Activision Blizzard merger. Wet was originally scheduled to be published by Vivendi and didn't make it onto Activision's roster; instead, some six months after the merger Bethesda took over publishing duties. While Racine wouldn't confirm whether or not Bethesda would reprise its role as publisher, he did comment on the original's underperformance. "We were very happy with [Bethesda's] commitment," Racine told us. "But, in their defense, we probably signed them too late. We should have signed them probably six months prior so we had more time to market the game. I think they came in late. Still, they did a very good job of promoting the game in the community. In the time that they had they did a very good job."
When asked whose decision it was to release Wet at the relatively budget price of $50, Racine said, "It was Bethesda's decision to decide the price. To be honest, you should ask them. I see the result and I won't comment; we get our fair share of the revenue. But it was their resonsibility to decide on the price." When asked if Wet 2 – and other future Behaviour titles – would be full-priced, Racine said, "I think there's a difference between Naughty Bear and a Wet title. Naughty Bear, I feel is more a $50 type of game. Wet I think deserved to be at full price."
There's a lot of us at Joystiq who thought Wet was one of the best titles in 2009, so we're eager to see if a sequel can polish the promise the original had. Naughty Bear on the other hand ... let's just say there's no shortage of areas upon which to improve.
