From OGR site:
The Wrath of g.o.d.
by Chris Jensen
January 12, 1998
In an announcement that is sure to have Activision, GT Interactive, and Microsoft reaching for a bottle of Tums, g.o.d., the newly formed computer game distributor headed by Mike Wilson(formerly of ION Storm and id)has made its presence known by snapping up distribution rights to some of the biggest third-party developers in the industry.
In one fell swoop, g.o.d. (Gathering of Developers) has established itself as a force to be reckoned with by pulling in some big guns. These names sound familiar?
1)Terminal Reality: Creators of Monster Truck Madness, Hellbender, CART Precision Racing, Fury3, and Terminal Velocity.
2)Epic Megagames: Creators of Unreal, Jazz Jackrabbit, Excessive Speed,Firefight, and Extreme Pinball.
3)Ritual Entertainment: Creators of Scourge of Armagon and Sin.
4)3D Realms: Creators of Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever,Shadow Warrior and Prey.
5)PopTop Software: Creators of Heroes of Might and Magic 1 & 2
Each of the above developers will continue to finish up their current projects for their original distributors, but once their commitments have been finalized, g.o.d. will step in and handle future projects.
Mike Wilson, CEO of g.o.d., told OGR.COM, "g.o.d. continues talks with other developers of similar stature and once we're funded, we'll be the only game in town for any independent developer worth their salt."
Call it a mutiny. From the outset, Mike Wilson created g.o.d. as a cooperative, two-tier company that shares in the development process as well as the profits. The ultimate goal is to offer developers a safe haven where their projects are treated with respect, a place where developers can steer the ship of marketing and receive the critical support needed in order to compete in a crowded playing field.
If you look at current titles distributed by Activision, Microsoft, GT Interactive, or EA, you'll find the logo for each of these companies emblazoned on the front with seldom a mention of who actually made the game. g.o.d., on the other hand, will be promoting the developer by pushing them into the spotlight, the g.o.d. logo placed on the back of the box while the designer benefits from a large font on the cover.
A precedent for what has transpired today has occurred elsewhere, though not in the computer games industry. Once there were two companies in the Comic Book publishing world, Marvel and DC, and they enjoyed the rule of the roost for many, many years. Until, that is, the artists and writers began to become a little disgruntled with how the profits were being divided. Rob Liefield, who once worked at Marvel where he created the ever-popular Cable, soon split and formed a new comic distributor called Image. It wasn't long until the best writers and artists in the business fled to Image where they each had control over their destiny, each responsible for the content of their titles and a sizable portion of the profits. Today, Image is ranked number two in market share, in front of DC, and if the trend continues will someday dethrone Marvel.
OGR.COM contacted Mark Randel, President of Terminal Reality, who had this to say, "We are proud to be a founding partner of the Gathering of Developers, because we believe in the philosophy that game developers should have more control over the creation, marketing and distribution of the games they design, and should receive a bigger stake of the profits generated from the sales of their titles. We also believe that the combined reputations of the Gathering of Developers partners will ensure that our titles receive premium channel distribution that's on par with other major distributors."
That, in a nutshell, is what g.o.d. is up to. By acquiring the above developers in such a timely manner, g.o.d. has quickly established itself as a force to reckoned with and you can be sure that many other development houses will soon be jumping on board. All of this activity is an attempt to remove the power base from the "suits" (a breed of people that excels at screwing up a project)and placing control into the hands of the creators. Each developer will have creative control over branding and advertising, each backed by a healthy budget from g.o.d. and, in an interesting move, each developer under g.o.d. will share ideas and technologies with their friendly competitors. Ultimately, this benefits you, the consumer,who can hopefully look forward to seeing more stable titles that haven't been rushed to market in order to beat some ethereal deadline.
Cheers
Bill |
