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MCV INTERVIEW STEWART GREEN, MD, DDI
The Arcade game Data Design Interactive’s Popcorn Arcade range has been a phenomenal success for the publisher, and now the firm is experimenting with new software ideas, 3D development and Nintendo’s new MotionPlus accessory. Christopher Dring speaks to boss Stewart Green on the secret behind DDI’s success… Popcorn Arcade has sold over 1.5 million units worldwide. What has made this range so successful? It’s nearing two million units now. For our casual range we had extensive TV advertising last year – with eight weeks of advertising stretched out across the year. A few years ago all the major publishers were talking of 100 man teams and five years of development needed for next gen titles. We thought this was not only unnecessary but did not add up financially. We preferred a process based on smaller titles, sold at affordable prices, and every title we made would make a
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moved into new larger offices last July and we have increased our UK workforce by 20 per cent. You’ve got several Wii MotionPlus titles on the way. What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s new add-on? This is what everyone thought the Wii Controller should have been in the first place. Nintendo should make this the standard Wii controller for all new sales and we are full of innovative ideas on how we can utilise it. The one-toone feedback is wonderful to use. Our My Personal Trainer series will fully utilise the hardware, with titles that
Nintendo’s MotionPlus is what everyone thought the Wii controller should have been in the first place. Stewart Green, DDI
small but reasonable profit. So we developed a reliable fast development process and published game after game, making continuous profits on each title. So do you feel the big-budget games model is stopping the games industry from growing? The games industry is continuing to grow, with a near 20 per cent increase on last year. However, while this is our most successful year in terms of size and sales, four of the five leading publishers have lost record amounts. Many in the industry just haven’t realised that the growth is in new gamers who want different types of products. Wii Fit and Brain Training are not products the hardcore gamers think of as next-gen, yet this is what the public want. Considering your success, how has DDI been expanding? We have opened a new US office in Florida, but while much of the UK development is being lost overseas, we are still UK based, and we are continuing to expanding our UK development. We
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would not have been possible without this innovation. Is My Personal Trainer a big part of DDI’s line-up then? My Personal Trainer will bring more people into playing games. Each title in the My Personal Trainer series doubles as a sports game and a tutorial that can teach you how to play the real activity. The feedback is really accurate and there’s expert advice from the world’s best trainers on how you can improve your game. This technology would previously cost tens of thousands of pounds to buy, but we can provide the hardware and expert feedback for a fraction of this. So will each title feature its own high profile trainer? For golf we’ve got David Leadbetter. He has had 30 years of training experience and is top of the field. For tennis we’ve secured Nick Bollettieri, who is the world’s leading tennis trainer.
We’ve worked with IMG too, which is the world’s largest sporting academy, with 22 training facilities around the globe. They do golf, tennis, baseball, soccer and fitness. We are doing games on all these areas, with a top trainer in each. How would you be looking to sell these games? Can we expect to see them in sports stores? At E3 we met with Dicks, the largest golf specialist in the US. We are looking to do a deal with them to sell the game through their stores as professional training products. Would you be interested in releasing My Personal Trainer on nonNintendo formats? Possibly. The new Xbox camera is interesting. However, we are not sure it is accurate enough for Personal Trainer. At the moment, the only machine that has the hardware ready is Wii. Do you think you’ll surprise people with your new line-up? We came in early on the Wii market. We had 30 titles out in the first 12 months. The first games on a platform are never the best – especially as we were going for a casual market at a low price point.
Now we’ve had time to look at the hardware, see what the machine can do, and integrate the new accessories. You do develop your games quickly. What’s the secret behind that? Our GODS development system is similar to a car production line. Developers don’t need to keep re-inventing the code every time they make a game. No wonder it takes some companies two years to make a game. For our engines we’ve written modules and codes that are reusable and interlink with each other. And it is reliable as well. You don’t need to keep reinventing the wheel every time.