Posted: 01/13/98    Previous | Headlines | Next

GameSpot News

When Mike Wilson left his seat at John Romero's upstart Ion Storm, many in the gaming community wondered what the title of Wilson's new company, Gathering of Developers, would do. On Tuesday, the world got a look.

The company is set to shake up the world of bigwig corporate game publishing by introducing a new way of publishing developers' titles. Currently, when a developer makes a game, its logo is pretty tiny, and many gamers think that the publisher of the title is also the developer; this is only true in some cases. Wilson's company will now take the developer and place its logo predominately on the front of the box. The g.o.d. logo will be placed on the back. This way, developers get the recognition they've been wanting without having to get into the costly business of becoming publishers.

With an initial listing of developers that have joined the collective including 3D Realms (developers of the Duke Nukem series, Prey), Epic MegaGames (Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal), PopTop Software (Heroes of Might and Magic I and II), Ritual Entertainment (Quake Mission Pack No. 1, SiN), and Terminal Reality (Monster Truck Madness, CART Precision Racing, Terminal Velocity), it looks like many developers share the same vision.

"Back in the early days of the film industry, when cinema giants Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffiths formed United Artists as a reaction to the stifling Hollywood studios, someone remarked, 'the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum,'" said Mike Wilson. "As the powers that be in software publishing blaze down the path of consolidation, leading developers must unite to maintain their strength as independent studios. Gathering of Developers is our way of putting the control back in the hands of those who create the gaming magic - the developers."

The business structure of the company is two tiered and each developer is an equity partner in g.o.d. itself. Developers will also manage their own production schedules and marketing, while still gaining revenues from their titles.

The dream team board of directors includes Mike Wilson; Scott Miller, CEO of 3D Realms/Apogee; Jay Wilbur, imperial advisor at Epic MegaGames and formerly CEO at id Software; Harry Miller, CEO of Ritual Entertainment; Allan Blum, former VP of sales and marketing and VP of international licensing and marketing at GT Interactive Software; Brett Combs, cofounder and VP of Terminal Reality Inc; Martin Zacarias; Phil Steinmeyer, president of Pop Top Software; and Bill Mitschrich, president of Strategic Marketing Partners (SMP).

"Gathering of Developers is all about putting the developer first, with freedom from arbitrary fiscal pressures, and giving the developer a great deal of control over the marketing of their games," said Scott Miller. "With a board of directors partially comprised of key developers, it will ensure that only quality titles are released, that developers' needs always have priority, and the final result will be better games being released for consumers." GT Interactive continues to hold long-term global rights to 3D Realms' major established properties, Duke Nukem and Prey, as well as ancillary media rights including films, books, toys, and other entertainment.

Most of the companies in the listing currently have contractual agreements with other publishers and will fulfill their contractual agreements for titles currently under development.

We'll have more information as the situation develops.