Devolver Digital on mixing indie movies and games for charity
If its recent Humble Bundle proves anything, it's that Devolver isn't settling for a footprint in one entertainment medium. With its games and a series of indie films on offer in the latest bundle, Devolver mixed its two passions in the pay-what-you-want, charity-driven Humble Bundle series.
Devolver's Nigel Lowrie says the company is attempting to do for film what it has done in the indie game publishing space.
"We're mostly known for games but Mike Wilson, one of the partners here, is also very much into independent film and trying to replicate a lot of what we do for games on the film side, and so we have Devolver Films now," Lowrie tells Joystiq.
"The Humble people have been really cool and they let us experiment. So the idea was, 'Lets try out games and films together and see if that works,' and it lined up with some charities we wanted to help."
The Devolver Double Debut Bundle supports The Film Collaborative, a non-profit "committed to distribution education and facilitation of independent film" and the GoFundMe campaign for the cancer treatment of Independent Games Festival chairman Brandon Boyer.
Lowrie says that Boyer, a fellow Austin, TX native, has helped inspire the direction of Devolver Digital. "We try to model ourselves after what he does, finding really neat and interesting titles and bring them to the masses. He does it through Venus Patrol and [local Austin, TX] events, and we do it by commercially selling the game."
With less than 24 hours until the Devolver Double Debut Bundle is set to expire, it has been purchased by over 18,130 contributors.
"It's been more or less a test to see how it would do," Lowrie said. We're going to hopefully do it again and make some modifications on raising awareness and making a bigger deal about it. It's not the biggest Humble Bundle of all time, but in all honestly one of the things we're most proud of is people were able to contribute 100%, if they wanted to, to Brandon Boyer and The Film Collaborative."
[Image: Humble Bundle]
