Roulette Table: Stubbs creator talks business, culinary art
Posted Jun 26th 2006 3:55PM by Ross Miller
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Business
Alex Seropian has a resume no one can scoff at. As the co-found of Bungie studios, and co-creator of Halo (we all know how well that game turned out), Seropian branched off in 2003 to form Wideload Games. The studio went on to make the humorous and underrated Stubbs the Zombie.
In an interview with Gamasutra, Seropian discusses the business model of his company, noting that many development houses have difficult times getting proper funding, and those who focus on only one project at a time are taking big risks for their company's future. Seropian likens perpetually it to gambling at the roulette table -- "and the minimum bet goes up each time." Wideload Games, he explains, is a small team of full-time employees that constantly come up with gaming ideas, and later hire independent contractors when development gets underway on a project. Seropian notes that what sets Wideload apart is its insistence on bringing humor back into games.
The interview if a fascinating read, particularily Seropian's love for food (a discussion that spawned from a piece in Wired). Hypothetically, if someone were to offer Seropian a cooking show on G4, "with guests like Keita Takahashi rolling meatballs, or CliffyB microwaving Hot Pockets," he would "do that in a second." Might we also suggest other food-loving industry veterans like Kojima, Kutaragi, and Iwata.
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Business
Alex Seropian has a resume no one can scoff at. As the co-found of Bungie studios, and co-creator of Halo (we all know how well that game turned out), Seropian branched off in 2003 to form Wideload Games. The studio went on to make the humorous and underrated Stubbs the Zombie.
In an interview with Gamasutra, Seropian discusses the business model of his company, noting that many development houses have difficult times getting proper funding, and those who focus on only one project at a time are taking big risks for their company's future. Seropian likens perpetually it to gambling at the roulette table -- "and the minimum bet goes up each time." Wideload Games, he explains, is a small team of full-time employees that constantly come up with gaming ideas, and later hire independent contractors when development gets underway on a project. Seropian notes that what sets Wideload apart is its insistence on bringing humor back into games.
The interview if a fascinating read, particularily Seropian's love for food (a discussion that spawned from a piece in Wired). Hypothetically, if someone were to offer Seropian a cooking show on G4, "with guests like Keita Takahashi rolling meatballs, or CliffyB microwaving Hot Pockets," he would "do that in a second." Might we also suggest other food-loving industry veterans like Kojima, Kutaragi, and Iwata.
