At E3 2015 we had a chance to sit down for a 1:1 with Loot Interactive co-founder David Sterling at their first “press and partner” evening event held at the show. In a very well attended event at a local Mexican restaurant we talked to David about the Indie game marketplace and how Loot Interactive was trying to stand-out from the crowd.
Unlike most indie publishers, they are not targeting just F2P games on the mobile phone & tablet platforms. Instead they are going for the console market because the environment is more immersive, a directed action (you are choosing to play a game not killing time until a bus or train) with a bigger screens. While the games they are currently publishing are based on the Unity flow and not epic graphics crazy, the ability to build challenging stories for the game allows them to present a new spin on the discovery game genre.
The console, due to its closed operating system, known hardware configuration and now integrated connectivity allows the games to streaming based so there are options for more engaging action than a single download mobile game. As an indie publisher, they can search for games from innovative developers from different genres and bring the games together. The purpose was to help expose these interesting games and unique stories that otherwise would not be told to a large audience. It also allows them to developmentally, try different content approaches to AR and VR with products like the Sony Morpheus platform. This can bring new experiences to the user, and as an indie publisher, bring a variety of titles to the product rather than relying on just continuation of a single franchise title.
At this time, David is focusing on finding new titles, and new developers to bring into their publishing fold. Down the road, the group will be looking into implementation of the transmedia angles on the titles they produce. Being able to support other types of media – books, table games, TV, movies, etc is always important for a creative story – but for now, Loot Interactive is focusing on the console game aspects. David indicated they need to full establish themselves and get a foot hold in the market, before branching off into to many other things – that is how companies get lost in the growth cycle.
