We have seen our player numbers continue to grow during this time but player spending levels have been more of a challenge. We have always tried to be quite a lean business, and invest prudently, and that will continue even as we drive our growth plans forward.
Would you say the market for sims is more resilient than for other games? How so? People who play simulators (particularly job simulators) tend to invest a lot of time and energy into those experiences, and I guess that breeds a certain level of resilience. Genres like simulation are rarely considered ‘cool’ and although that means that products rarely break into industry top 10’s, they tend to have a
thing, and I think we have achieved that. Our work in both the flight sim and fishing spaces has been highly successful. Both have helped us build the company, and we have learned a lot from the experience. I believe that our future remains in building simulation experiences for both core and mainstream players, and a portfolio that goes beyond trains is key to that.
Ten years ago in the pages of MCV there was a hope to have 400 employees within five years and 10-15 million players of your games by 2020. How is that coming along? Well, it’s true that we haven’t hit the 400 internal employees mark but if you take into account our partners and the third-party train development community that we have supported for many years then we are probably through that number. At the end of the day I don’t believe that the number of employees is a good measure of business success. After all, you can create a fabulous experience with a team of five. We’re also extremely happy with our player numbers. It’s easy to go back and pull the thread of an ambitious target that was set 10 years ago, but I would rather concentrate on doubling down on our successes and learning from our mistakes, so that we can build an even more successful business over the next 10 years.
… More seriously, it’s been a tough time for the industry for the past 18 months. How has Dovetail been impacted, if at all? It’s been tough for everyone of course, but particularly for those that have had their roles impacted directly over that period.
44 | MCV/DEVELOP June/July 2024
longer than average shelf life and have fairly predictable revenue streams. That’s not necessarily a bad thing at a time when the industry is facing commercial challenges.
Obviously it helps to have people on board at the company that are themselves hobbyists. Is it hard to find the right people that can appreciate the appeal of products like Train Sim World? We have always wanted to have a healthy blend of people in the company. Yes, we have rail fans in the company and they are invaluable. However, I have always believed that being a hobbyist isn’t essential. Being good at your job is essential. A willingness to learn and grow is essential. We adopt a highly flexible ‘work where you work best’ policy, and that has led to an influx of fabulous talent from the UK, and across a number of international geographies.
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