AS YOU READ through this month’s Develop, you might spot something of a theme. It’s one that emerged organically, and it’s something those sensitive about the passage of time might want to ignore. On this very page we’ve spoken with Bioware
Mythic’s Eugene Evans, who can boast 30 years in the industry. Then there’s our profile of Development Legend winner David Perry, who joined the profession at the dawn of the 1980s. Elsewhere in this issue there’s a profile of
Total War developer The Creative Assembly, which this month celebrates 25 years of creating games. And our own Develop Industry Excellence Awards, covered in detail from page 26 of the magazine you hold in your hands, are already ten years of age. For just as long there’s been talk of games
growing up; in terms of theme, and of the average age of the consumer rising. And now, like it or loath it, the individuals,
tools and technologies behind a good chunk of today’s games have a generous number of years in the profession behind them. Could it be that this is all our youthful, misunderstood industry needs? A few years in the bag to finally reach the point of regard and respect we’ve long deserved? More than one regular reader has suggested
before that our annual 30-Under-30 feature should be accompanied by a 50-Over-50 spotlight. Perhaps they are right. Or, should we lend more of an ear to the
young indies and start-ups defining the future? Flick through this issue, including the Awards piece, and you’ll see plenty of those, which we hope proves we think both matter. We’re lucky to have the experience of Perry and Evans in the same space as so many spiritied young studios. Our industry has maturity and youth in a tight-knit sector, making games development today stronger than ever.
BioWare Mythic studio GM and VP Eugene Evans can boast of a 30-year career in video games. He tells Will Freeman how that affects his perspective of today’s industry, and his optimism about free-to-play
Back in 1982 you co-founded Imagine Studios, which rose and fell dramatically in 18 months. There’s numerous tales from that era that make games developers of the time – including Imagine – sound quite anarchic, even a little rock ‘n’ roll. Is that spirit missing from today’s developers? I think it probably does still go on, but it’s not something they can show outwardly. 30 years on I can speak about it openly because I’m speaking retroactively, but back at the time all of that was hidden behind a veneer and hype, which was how we portrayed ourselves. I know a lot of great start-ups today, and I
know a number of them where all those kind of things definitely do go on, but they can’t talk about it right now. It remains hidden.
08| AUGUST 2012
One day they’ll maybe be able to talk about how it really is today. I don’t think that spirit has gone, and today we have some remarkable start-ups, who are doing some of the most amazing, bold things. But, especially in the market today where a lot of these start-ups are raiding money from some very serious people, and having to look for the right business plan, you have to be careful. I’m sure if you look at somebody like David Perry and Gaikai, maybe they’ll have some great stories about what they’ve had to do to get where they are. In fact I think, because of the fact that the market has become so big now and the volume of money has made it so serious, the really impressive start-ups today are the ones