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Activision's mobile studio working on Pitfall
The first title to come out of the newly-formed mobile division at Activision is not a Call of Duty game. Instead, the group will produce a mobile version of the Activision classic, Pitfall. "We've been working on Pitfall since earlier in the year when we set up and it has been really good to revisit that and bring it to a modern audience," Martyn Brown, Team 17 co-founder and Activision Mobile head honcho told MCV. "Being able to call upon a wide portfolio of properties is really good for us and we are looking forward to finally showing it to more people."Activision announced the studio back in May, which employs former Rockstar talent and the co-founder of Team 17. Pitfall celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Activision enlists former Rockstar bosses to help with new UK studio
Former Rockstar bossmen Mark Washbrook and Mark Lloyd are helping establish Activision's freshly announced UK studio. The studio, based in Leeds, will focus on mobile development and is led by Team17 co-founder Martyn Brown. Brown hopes to eventually have a staff of 40 at Activision Leeds.Washbrook established Rockstar London, which worked on mobile aspects of Manhunt 2 and online features of Max Payne 3. He left Rockstar in February 2011 and worked as game director at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for six months.Lloyd was studio head of Rockstar Lincoln for 12 years, but left in March 2011 to found his own games consulting service, Titanium Consultancy, which has since been voluntarily dismantled.Activision Leeds was established in November, but is just now blipping on public radar. Washbrook and Lloyd could be at Activision Leeds for the long haul or as initial consultants; Activision hasn't clarified.
Activision employing Team17 co-founder to create mobile studio in UK
After shutting down Bizarre Creations last February and restructuring DJ Hero studio Freestyle Games, Activision's reach in the UK was recessed for the past year. But with a renewed mobile push at Activision, the publisher is now looking to build a new studio across the Atlantic – and Team17 co-founder Martyn Brown is in charge of building said studio.Develop confirmed the news with Activision, who only allowed this vague statement: "We are investing in mobile initiatives and that includes a UK studio." For Brown's part, he's staying mum, but the job description falls right in line with Brown's, following his departure from Team17 last year.
Martyn Brown quits Team17 after 20 years
After two decades at the helm of annelid annihilators Team17, Martyn Brown has left the Worms developer to work as an independent video game consultant, according to a post on his (private) Facebook page, as noted by Eurogamer. Brown co-founded Team17, which got its start developing games for the Amiga (before your time?). "I had an amazing 20-year ride and whilst it's the end of a truly enjoyable period of my life, it equally signals the start of a really exciting new one," Brown posted before swinging away on a grappling hook, throwing a grenade, falling on that grenade and blowing himself up.
Team17 wriggles free from third-party publishers
Having released only two boxed retail games in the past three years, Worms developer Team17 has been working toward total independence from third-party publishers. That moment has arrived for the studio, which has repositioned itself as an independent digital publisher, reports MCV. "We have no ambitions to return to retail publishing," co-founder Martyn Brown told the site. Team17 has completed a restructuring initiative, which has both promoted existing staff and brought in new hires to fill the roles of a publishing entity. In addition to continuing to self-publish its own titles through digital distribution channels -- having celebrated its 20th anniversary last December, Team17 is one of the oldest independent developers in the industry -- the company will be working with other independent developers to bring their games to digital platforms, including XBLA, PSN and the App Store. "We are actively involved in working with other independent studios to publish their IP. This is a key aspect of our strategy going forward," Brown said. "We now have the right structure and team in place to accomplish this."
Team17 head: Timed exclusivity is 'just the way the world works'
"I appreciate PS3 owners getting pissed off because it's not on their platform immediately, but that's up to Sony I guess to address that," Team17 studio head Martyn Brown said in a recent interview with VideoGamer.com. According to Brown, exclusivity is just a fact of life. "People on Live Arcade can't play Super Stardust [HD] or PAIN or a bunch of titles ... it's just the way the world works really." he added. Addressing concerns that his company was paid off by Microsoft for the timed exclusivity of Alien Breed Evolution on XBLA, Brown answered ... "bollocks" (British for "nonsense"). Instead, Brown credited the exclusivity deal to "early faith" from the publisher. Specifically, Brown stated, "In exchange for exclusivity we get a lot more promotion ... it isn't the case of here's some cash in a suitcase, It just doesn't work like that -- It would be nice if it did!" No suitcases full of bank notes, Mr. Brown? Oh, that's right, GTA IV's exclusive DLC used up all of Microsoft's petty cash for a bit. Sorry, guy! %Gallery-68333%
Microsoft's early faith in Team 17 is why Alien Breed hits XBLA first
While Team 17's upcoming Alien Breed renewal, Alien Breed Evolution, will be coming to XBLA, PSN and PC, VG247 has learned that the game will be arriving on XBLA a bit earlier than the other two. "It will come to PS3 and it will come to PC as well, but initially it'll be Live Arcade," Team 17's Martyn Brown said. Why not release on all three platforms simultaneously from the get go? Brown says it has to do with Microsoft giving Team 17 a chance before anyone else would. "They showed a lot of faith in us early doors [British for "early on"] and that's kind of kept going really," Brown notes. He even goes as far as to call the relationship a "first-party publishing relationship" (which is the case for Team 17's other franchise, Worms, but not Alien Breed). Hey, Microsoft, you trying to put a ring on that finger? %Gallery-68333% [Via XboxGaming]
Team17: XBLA publishing is much harder now
Team 17's Martyn Brown believes the barriers to self-publishing on Xbox Live Arcade are becoming more difficult to break through. The studio director tells GI.biz that it's "massively" harder to get games on XBLA now, saying that there just aren't "many gaps in the portfolio" and the top sellers are mostly established IPs -- like his company's Worms games. Brown believes that new developers without established connections need to make titles that cater to the platforms. He expresses that Sony "tends to like the new stuff" that isn't necessarily mass market, while with Microsoft "you're really going for the commercial mass market audience." The takeaway from this is that as digital distribution goes from being the new frontier to becoming the norm, it's going to have similar issues as current brick-and-mortar retailers.
