BURST RENEWAL With the creator of the contentious Senran Kagura series moved on and a growing number or more diverse games set to overshadow it, it’s understandable why Melton is happy to draw a line between where Marvelous Europe was (coincidentally, in Tunbridge Wells) and where it’s re-established itself (in London) as part of the Tentacle Zone community that includes Payload, Robot Squid and Spilt Milk Studios. “We acknowledge our past, it’s been quite
colourful, for sure” he says, having taken steps to present Marvelous as “more modest and humble”, a process which he admits is difficult in an age where the volume of new publishers might compel them to be the opposite. Part of the process of change was to question
the values of the organisation as was, and ask if they were compatible with a team that was becoming much more diverse and inclusive. Just a few years ago Marvelous Europe was 100% male. Now it is 30%. “We wanted to make sure that the values came
from the people, because we are very people driven” says Sarah Burns, head of production and operations. “So we all got together and we landed on three core pillars, essentially: human, ambitious, and collaborative.” Recognising that Marvelous works with developers of many shapes and sizes, there was a desire to treat partners as individuals and equals. “We’re trying to tailor our support to what they need and to not stifle their creative vision.” “We are very collaborative,” adds Melton,
describing Marvellous Europe as a boutique publisher. “ We give [developers] the love and the support to commercialise their creative vision, which sounds quite trite to say, but we do rely on each other. We have a responsibility. We know our place as a publisher.”
WONDERFUL LIFE It’s proving to be a busy time for Marvelous Europe. Earlier this year the company announced the increasingly anticipated RPG Mandragora and Suda 51 action game No More Heroes III. Then at gamescom we heard about the delightful Nova Antarctica and Ninja or Die, with the Gamecube and PS2 classic Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life recently announced for Switch. It’s a compelling mix of the familiar and one or two titles that break ever-so-slightly from the Marvelous mould of old, but this is no scattergun approach. There is, according to Melton, a belief in the games that comes directly from within, which gives greater impetus to support each developer and the desire to see them succeed. “We see something in the game that we all
agree on at Marvellous, and then we try and support that,” says Melton. “And if we do a bad job and it doesn’t work commercially and we’re proud of the game, that’s sort of okay.” So long as it doesn’t happen too often, we assume.
X MACHINA “I do realise it’s quite privileged to have an HQ that is solid and supportive, but we have an obligation and a love of the titles that come to us.” It’s not always about, says Melton, having a quota of titles foisted upon the team, all of which have to hit a certain threshold to please the money gods. “We don’t have to sign 30 titles a year and put those through, I don’t think that ends well. This is not an easy business for anyone, in publishing especially.” “We have to prove that whilst we have a lot of
autonomy from our Japanese publisher, with our sister companies Xseed and Marvelous US, we still have to earn that trust, we have to do our business properly and be profitable. Provided we
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