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Weathering the economic storm: Start-ups speak out
It takes a special kind of crazy to open up a new game studio in an uncertain financial climate. Yet already in 2009 we've seen a handful of people do just that, many on the heels of having lost their previous jobs to downsizing or a studio closure. Recently we spoke with three individuals behind a trio of 2009's start-up efforts to ask them how they plan to weather the economic storm and, more importantly, if seeing the rest of the industry buckle around them makes them feel just a little bit demented for doing what they're doing. "We are crazy!" proclaimed Game Mechanic Studios president and former Electronic Arts senior designer Jason Alejandre, who noted that he saw layoffs four out of the five years he spent working at EA. "The one year that we didn't have layoffs at our studio there were still layoffs at the other EA studios," he recalled. "The leadership changed at the studio level three times and the executive management changed twice." Still, Alejandre doesn't necessarily believe that all of the closures and cutbacks are directly tied to the current downturn. "It's a combination of this is just how the business is, and the other part is due to the current economic crisis. This is our industry. I think [why] the media is currently focused in on this more so in games now than any of the previous years is because the topic is now under the 'Eye of Sauron.'"
DoubleTap games formed, aimed at DS
A pair of 'key execs' from THQ's recently axed Helixe game studio have banded together to form a new development company called DoubleTap Games. Prior to being dissolved as part of THQ's 'significant business realignment,' Helixe focused on creating games such as Wall-E and Ratatouille for the Nintendo DS. Now, without the benefit of THQ's numerous movie licenses, DoubleTap aims to bring "new games and franchises" to Nintendo's portable later in 2009.The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based outfit is headed by Kurt Bickenbach and Richard Corredera, with a developer staff the company boasts as having more than 50 years of collective experience with such outfits as Looking Glass Studios, Sony Online Entertainment and, of course, THQ. No specific details regarding the company's plans have been announced, though Corredera states that DoubleTap has "great publisher relationships and a few titles already on the slate for development." In these tough economic times, it's always warming to hear of those adversely affected who are able to move on and jump right back into the skillet.
