Seamus Blackley's big surprise
05-10-02, 06:19 AM
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Seamus Blackley's big surprise
Blackley and three other game industry veterans are forming the Capital Entertainment Group, which will fund and supervise development of games and then sell the finished products to publishers. The approach is similar to a technique used in the movie business, where a production company gets the film made, and the studio is responsible for promotion and distribution.
I'm not sure I see how this is going to work the way he's saying it will. In Hollywood, production companies work by distributing the risk of a film project among several companies. But usually, the only reason companies get on board with a film project is because there's some proven element involved, e.g. a big name star or director, or the film is a sequel to a blockbuster.
Since there are few equivalents to a Julia Roberts or a Steven Spielberg in the game development world, I can't see how this model would help produce anything but more sequels.
05-10-02, 12:03 PM
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Seamus Blackley's new company will be going multiplatform. Here is the article from IGN.
Sega Funds Ex-Box Talent
Blackley, Bachus form new multi-platform game company.
May 10, 2002 - Former Microsoft company employees Seamus Blackley and Kevin Bachus officially announced today that they have started up a new game development company focused on creating software for multiple platforms including Xbox, GameCube, PS2 and PC. The upstart, Capital Entertainment Group, or CEG, has already partnered with Sega to publish its first two games.
Blackley, who was formerly chief technology officer on Xbox at Microsoft, and Bachus, who previously handled game development relations for the console, have teamed with ex-Sierra Online senior vice president J. Mark Hood and Dotted Line Entertainment founder Eugene Mauro on the new studio, which is currently attempting to raise some $50 million in venture backing.
"I've found over the last year that it was becoming increasingly difficult to get innovative, original titles funded," Mauro told Reuters. "I put together a model that was a little bit VC (venture capital), a lot of bit of production."
That model calls for CEG to front the development costs of its software, leaving distribution and marketing up to the publishers. The developer will then take a cut of net game sales. CEG believes that investors can break even this way after software sales of 250,000 copies.
The company's first two games will be published by Sega, but will not be released until the holiday season of next year. While no specifics on which platforms the titles would debut on were released, Bachus told Reuters that CEG would back not only Xbox, but GameCube, PS2 and PC, too. He also said that the developer has no current plans to support the handheld market. "Sega entertaining this opportunity is very flattering," said Bachus.
Look for more news on the upstart and its games as we head into the big Electronics Entertainment Expo, which kicks off shortly in Los Angeles, California.
Blackley, Bachus form new multi-platform game company.
May 10, 2002 - Former Microsoft company employees Seamus Blackley and Kevin Bachus officially announced today that they have started up a new game development company focused on creating software for multiple platforms including Xbox, GameCube, PS2 and PC. The upstart, Capital Entertainment Group, or CEG, has already partnered with Sega to publish its first two games.
Blackley, who was formerly chief technology officer on Xbox at Microsoft, and Bachus, who previously handled game development relations for the console, have teamed with ex-Sierra Online senior vice president J. Mark Hood and Dotted Line Entertainment founder Eugene Mauro on the new studio, which is currently attempting to raise some $50 million in venture backing.
"I've found over the last year that it was becoming increasingly difficult to get innovative, original titles funded," Mauro told Reuters. "I put together a model that was a little bit VC (venture capital), a lot of bit of production."
That model calls for CEG to front the development costs of its software, leaving distribution and marketing up to the publishers. The developer will then take a cut of net game sales. CEG believes that investors can break even this way after software sales of 250,000 copies.
The company's first two games will be published by Sega, but will not be released until the holiday season of next year. While no specifics on which platforms the titles would debut on were released, Bachus told Reuters that CEG would back not only Xbox, but GameCube, PS2 and PC, too. He also said that the developer has no current plans to support the handheld market. "Sega entertaining this opportunity is very flattering," said Bachus.
Look for more news on the upstart and its games as we head into the big Electronics Entertainment Expo, which kicks off shortly in Los Angeles, California.
