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Is Saints Row IV a game on a scale you’ve not released before? Yes. I can safely say this is our biggest launch ever. Our territories are really mobilising and focusing on making this a great success. All the elements are there, the game is good, the marketing tools are prepared across all the territories. It is looking fantastic.


Has the recent worldwide success of Dead Island helped you prepare for the Saints Row launch? In many ways Dead Islandtook us by surprise. It made people think we were the one trick pony company, but the IP is now really strong. Last year we had 5m copies sold, and since then we’ve had Riptide. It is just growing and growing so our organisation is able to handle these big IPs.


But with the acquisitions of Saints Row, Volition and Metro: Last Light, the company has been bolstered and can attract talent more easier. So we are able to grow our company slightly and add some experts to the team. In the UK we have hired some talent in the marketing and PR side. This has helped us prepare for Saints Row.


Can we expect any further acquisitions?


I think Koch Media caught everybody by surprise when we acquired those two big IPs. As for more? Well you never know. We are a company of entrepreneurs, looking for business opportunities all over the world. I am sure we will be involved in acquisitions or co- operations going forward. We are well networked in the industry, so we know the opportunities. I would not be surprised if we sign something in the near future.


You acquired Metro as part of the THQ asset swoop. Were you just interested in picking up that game, or are you hoping to develop it as a franchise? We are here to create IPs and a universe around them. We want to grow this franchise because I think


www.mcvuk.com


there are legs in this brand. Going forward we definitely want to look at what the next chapter will be. Same with Dead Islandand Saints Row, these are franchises that can grow across different platforms and maybe even different genres. That’s our goal.


There’s going to be this big crater on September 17th, and everyone is scrambling to get out of it.


“ Menno Van der Bil, Deep Silver


Dead Island seems to be quite popular amongst its fans, but critical scores haven’t been so favourable. Why do you think there is this disconnect? We have several discussions about the correlation between Metacritic and sales. And there have been comments that have said the first trailer was the fundamental base for the success of Dead Island. We did some surveys – why does our audience like Dead Island? It is the enjoyment of having a very easy to play, easy to access zombie shooter. It is not a 85+ game. But the fans love it. There are some out there that hate it. There doesn’t appear to be anyone in the middle.


Saints Row launches on August 23rd. The same day as quite a few games. Disney Infinity, Splinter Cell, and XCom amongst them. Why is everyone gravitating towards that date? Should you not space these releases out? It’s about the big elephant in the room. There’s going to be this big crater on September 17th, and everyone is scrambling to get out of it. You then look at your game. What is the state of the game? Is it


ready? Then you look at the markets and when is the best period to release it. You obviously have to look at the competition. But we have a big open world game, and there’s two coming out, so that is our date.


Is it crucial to come out before GTA V and Watch Dogs? Yes, but we are addressing a fanbase with Saints Row. There’s such a big fanbase that wants this game.


Can we expect any of these games to reach Wii U? Nintendo is a very respected business partner of ours and we are still looking at Wii development on certain products. We never say no, but Wii U is currently not our focus.


Now you’ve been promoted to the Champions League, what comes next for Deep Silver?


We want to explore other worlds in the games universe. We are getting more educated and involved in the online business. Some people say PC is dead but it’s not. There’s a massive business going on there. We are also exploring free-to- play. The next step will be mobile. What can we do with our IPs in mobile? We are looking at launching some interesting mobile games in our next financial year.


In terms of territories, our global approach is something we need to explore further with new markets like India, China, South Africa and so on.


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