South Korean recreation writer Smilegate not too long ago made a strategic funding and have become a companion in Absurd Ventures, a recreation studio based by Rockstar Video games cofounder Dan Houser.
Houser spent greater than 20 years at Rockstar video games and drove the inventive course of the Grand Theft Auto and Crimson Useless Redemption franchises, which have collectively offered greater than 550 million models worldwide. (Theoretically, that’s about $33 billion price of video games). Houser left Rockstar Video games in 2020.
By means of this settlement, Smilegate can have the chance to companion on Absurd Ventures’ new mental property, which has been within the works since Houser began the studio in 2021. I’m wanting ahead to seeing the inventive output of this mix, as Houser was a part of a gifted crew at Rockstar that rose to the head of the sport trade. It is a take a look at as as to whether he can do extra of the identical, this time with a South Korean juggernaut behind him as a substitute of Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive.
It’s a giant alternative for Smilegate — the maker of video games similar to Crossfire and Misplaced Ark — to crew up with Houser, who creatively oversaw globally profitable IPs which are cultural cornerstones and rooted in immersive storytelling. I did an interview with Smilegate and Absurd Ventures to search out out why they did this deal and to search out some clues about what they’re engaged on. Houser is notoriously shy in relation to press, however I did get to interview Harold Kim, vice chairman of enterprise improvement at Smilegate, and Greg Borrud, head of video games at Absurd Ventures.
Right here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
Greg Borrud is head of video games at Absurd Ventures.
GamesBeat: What are you able to inform us about this partnership?
Greg Borrud: It is a good mixture of each Smilegate, which could be very enthusiastic about the place we’re getting into video games, and Absurd, likewise very enthusiastic about the place we’re getting into video games. We’re each exploring publishing and growing and all these new markets and new alternatives. This funding is a sign of our mutual respect for one another and our need to assist work collectively to see what we are able to do to deliver nice video games to gamers. It’s a minority funding, so it’s simply that first step of attending to know one another, however to this point it’s been an incredible partnership. We’re very excited concerning the future.
GamesBeat: Harold, what was attention-grabbing to you about Absurd?
Harold Kim: Smilegate is a singular firm within the publishing trade. We come from South Korea. We have been doing properly in numerous international locations, however not notably properly within the U.S. or different western territories. Our bread and butter is stay service video games. We’ve been doing that from the inception of the corporate. We need to change into a world firm, an actual participant within the trade. Once we have a look at a number of the traits within the trade, one is triple-A. We’re not speaking about cash figures. We’re speaking about–in case you look again on the 2000s, one of many key options of how we outlined triple-A was nice narrative storytelling.
When our chairman, Kwon Hyuk-bin, had an opportunity to fulfill with Dan Houser over dinner, what got here out of that assembly was that that they had a shared imaginative and prescient. That imaginative and prescient is creating IP that’s memorable. Enjoyable, but in addition memorable. IP that may be handed alongside via generations. Absurd has super respect and expertise in creating that narrative storytelling. Smilegate doesn’t have that have, however Smilegate has stay service operations expertise. We see nice potential within the relationships, countless potentialities. It was a no brainer for us to make the decision and get into this relationship.
GamesBeat: It’s a giant dedication, too. You don’t know when one thing goes to drop. You don’t know the way lengthy you want to assist the corporate. Status is all the pieces right here. It feels such as you’re prepared for no matter may occur, with out figuring out for sure when the primary recreation goes to reach.
Kim: Smilegate is exclusive within the sense that it’s a 100% personal firm. It took us 5 years to ship Crossfire, eight years to ship Misplaced Ark. High quality is essential. We’re not certain by a public firm’s obligations to shareholders. The one factor we care about is {our relationships} and high quality. Any time we do offers, it’s all based mostly on long-term relationships. We hope to create that type of relationship with Absurd.
Harold Kim is vice chairman of enterprise improvement at Smilegate.
GamesBeat: Is that philosophy a little bit of a rarity within the recreation trade?
Borrud: You’ll be able to see why we have been on this dialog. Dan and I’ve talked about this fairly a bit in our conversations with Kwon at Smilegate, this shared ardour and curiosity in making large video games that may have a significant impression for years to come back. We’re very excited that Smilegate’s interested by exploring narrative-driven video games. That’s what Absurd is constructed on, storytelling and new immersive worlds, new participant experiences. There’s a shared curiosity there, which is thrilling. We don’t need to take ceaselessly to get to market, however we additionally don’t need to rush. It’s discovering the correct stability. That was nice to listen to for us.
On the flip aspect, we’re very interested by stay providers. We’re interested by what Smilegate is nice at. We’re desirous about how we are able to thread the needle on each. After which additionally understanding the Asian market as properly. It felt like an ideal relationship to get began. We’re very complementary to one another. That’s been borne out in plenty of conversations we’ve been having for fairly some time.
GamesBeat: What’s the draw for you in working with somebody like Dan? What are some qualities which are attention-grabbing about him that possibly folks don’t see from the skin? He’s a reasonably quiet individual. What’s most attention-grabbing about working with him?
The opposite factor is, he’s an unbelievable storyteller. Each from his coaching, going method again, after which all the pieces he did on the video games he’s developed. He has a extremely good sense of reducing to the chase. What is going to resonate with folks? What can be new and totally different, and never by-product? We discuss fairly a bit about desirous to make video games that may have a long-lasting impression, and which are additionally going to face out and be distinctive.
He’s additionally very collaborative. We’ve been pulling collectively two recreation improvement groups. One crew is in Santa Monica. I’m in our workplace up in San Rafael with the acquisition of the Ascendant crew. What’s been nice is, as we deliver on all this unbelievable expertise, Dan is excellent at saying, “This is what’s important to me,” however then enabling the crew to develop what’s essential to them. There’s a powerful collaboration happening with everybody. I’ve been working with him for 2 years now, and truthfully, as somebody who’s extra of a producer–what I need to do is figure with unbelievable creatives. He’s most likely the perfect inventive I’ve ever labored with.
GamesBeat: Quite a lot of recreation builders may be uncertain about what to do by way of serving their followers. Followers all the time need to have extra of what that they had within the final recreation, however in addition they need one thing recent. How does the crew, together with Dan, take into consideration that when you think about doing one thing completely new?
Borrud: Definitely our course of has not been, “Let’s build a chart of everything that someone is doing and find something that’s different.” It’s not pushed by that. It’s pushed extra by what we’re enthusiastic about, what we predict will resonate with gamers, what’s well timed. As we take into consideration issues that may ring a bell with folks, these are a number of the issues we take into consideration. We do take into consideration being totally different, however not only for its personal sake.
Dan is likely one of the greatest, and has been the most effective, at evolving a franchise. If you consider Grand Theft Auto from III onward, culminating with Crimson Useless 2, how that complete style of open worlds advanced, that goes to who Dan is. That’s the continuation of the story that now we have, however as a substitute of constant to inform tales in these present franchises, that are clearly unbelievable franchises, Dan had the chance to construct new worlds and inform new tales and create new environments. That’s been probably the most thrilling issues.
The opposite factor Absurd has targeted on fairly a bit is how we introduce new IP to the world. We’re excited concerning the linear aspect of the market as properly. We’re on this new age of synergy between recreation builders and recreation IP and linear IP. You’ll see issues like our audio podcast we launched final summer season. We now have a sequence of comedian books launching within the new 12 months. An entire host of linear media alternatives. Primary, that enables Dan to scratch that itch. He’s a author. Writers are going to write down. It’s a good way to get that out. However extra importantly, it’s a method for us to introduce our IP slowly, over time, in order that when our recreation merchandise do finally launch–to Harold’s level, these take some time to develop. When these video games launch, the IP gained’t be unknown to folks. There can be an excellent, stable basis we’re constructing on high of.
GamesBeat: You’re capable of take a look at your concepts in a cheaper method. You get them in entrance of individuals and see in the event that they resonate.
Absurd Ventures created a podcast referred to as A Higher Paradise.
Borrud: I’m all the time unsure what I can say about my personal conversations with Dan, however he’s talked about that immediately. “Had we known how an audience might have reacted to a character, we might not have killed that character.” We now have concepts about what we predict goes to resonate, what we predict goes to play. However a part of the magic in game-making is commonly these issues which are surprising. It is a nice alternative for us to seed it on the market, see what resonates and what doesn’t, and lean into these issues which are going to play.
GamesBeat: Harold, what are your alternatives to contribute to that inventive course of?
Kim: Smilegate has a model imaginative and prescient to change into a world participant on this trade, as I stated. We hope to not solely assist the corporate notice its IP within the Asian market territories, Korea and so forth, but in addition work collectively to ascertain enterprise alternatives. I don’t need to name it publishing, however extra like methods to go to market on a world scale with Absurd Ventures and Smilegate. That’s a objective now we have.
I discussed that we would like to have the ability to contribute to creating IP that may have a protracted, sustainable life. Reside service is our bread and butter. We hope to make an incredible contribution in that respect.
Borrud: From the developer aspect, we see a lot disruption within the publishing aspect of the enterprise. What’s even outlined as a writer? With Activision being acquired by Microsoft, what defines a writer? We’re eager to determine what that mannequin for bringing a recreation to market appears to be like like. Smilegate is equally attempting to determine that out. We predict working collectively, we could discover some attention-grabbing synergies there. We’ll see.
Simply as the sport improvement aspect has been extremely disrupted by the rounds of layoffs which have occurred–regardless of the marketplace for video games being sturdy, it’s loopy on the event aspect. We’re attempting to do numerous issues that may make recreation improvement extra sustainable. However the identical type of disruption is going on on the publishing aspect. We’re very eager to determine what the brand new mannequin appears to be like like in 2025 and past. It’s extremely thrilling. That’s our shared curiosity.
GamesBeat: You talked about stay providers as a key curiosity. Players like to argue about these items. They’re not essentially computerized followers of stay service video games. “It’s just a money grab.” Are there enticing options to stay service video games that weigh in opposition to the drawbacks? Sony tried to launch a giant stay service recreation with Harmony this 12 months, a giant new IP, and it fell flat. How do you have got that dialog about what’s essential in stay providers?
Borrud: To be clear, the primary factor that’s essential to us is nice recreation worlds and nice storytelling. It doesn’t matter what we do, a really sturdy, stable single-player expertise is all the time going to be on the core of what we do. That’s simply in our DNA. It’s who we’re. However we make investments thousands and thousands of {dollars} into constructing these worlds, these playgrounds to be in, and once you’re solely getting a recreation each 5 or 10 years, that’s additionally not serving the viewers the way in which it ought to.
The query is, can we do each? With out going into what we’re attempting to do, our ardour is to construct a compelling expertise that everybody will make investments themselves into. However then how can we permit them to proceed to stay in that world in a compelling method? We’re not saying we’re simply making stay providers. That may be utterly totally different from who we’re as a studio. However once we’ve created these compelling worlds, we need to give gamers a possibility to proceed to have interaction with them.
Smilegate has been nice at that. It’s not simply the sport world. It’s additionally community-building. The followers of Dan and his video games, it’s all about community-building. That’s core to what we’re doing. It’s much less about stay service video games by way of attempting to make an additional buck. It’s about attempting to have interaction and construct a neighborhood that’s on this lengthy journey with us, 10 or extra years of those video games.
Kim: Smilegate’s position is a part of creating good storytelling and good IP. We’re not saying we’re simply making a stay service recreation with Absurd. It’s making a world, creating a spot the place customers can have enjoyable and spend time and revel in memorable experiences. The stay service component goes to come back a lot later. We all know, as Greg stated, about making a neighborhood and nurturing that, to have the ability to make this IP a protracted, sustainable, technology to technology form of factor. That’s the objective of this partnership.
GamesBeat: So far as the way in which you wish to run the corporate, within the context of how the entire trade feels prefer it’s working proper now, are there some distinctions concerning the type of firm you need to create at Absurd?
Borrud: Completely. Though it’s been a tough two or three years now, there’s an attention-grabbing factor for us at Absurd about this sort of reset second, constructing an organization from scratch proper now. Primary, there’s unbelievable expertise on the market. We’re capable of construct an incredible crew. However we’re additionally in a position to consider, how can we construct these video games and never have a 500-person inner crew, a 1,000-person inner crew, and even bigger? Ranging from scratch, we’re capable of construct with that mentality.
Smilegate relies in South Korea.
We’re leaning closely right into a core crew. We now have two places of work, Santa Monica and San Rafael, two core groups there. We’re leaning into management that’s greatest at school. After which we’re wanting aggressively at partnerships. How can we take into consideration co-development companions, these best-in-class builders that may are available in and work with us? We now have some concepts there across the scalability of the dev groups to have the ability to nonetheless get to the triple-A top quality, which is our expectation and positively our followers’ expectation, however do it in a method the place we don’t have these large ebbs and flows of rising a crew into an enormous group after which having to put them off. That’s been high of thoughts for me for years now, and for Dan as properly. We’re attempting to sit up for how we are able to make a extra sustainable improvement setting.
One factor we’ve accomplished with that, and that is what’s been nice with Dan–from the second he left Rockstar, for years now Dan has been growing these worlds, growing this IP. Earlier than we even began bringing on many inner builders, he had two years of ideation and world-building and storytelling behind this. That implies that this 12 months, as we develop our inner groups, they don’t come and ask, “What are we doing?” Right here is the playground. Right here is the world. Right here is the setting. Here’s a broad define of the story. The sport groups are available in and there’s a stage of world-building I’m unsure has been accomplished a lot for a brand new, authentic IP. I’ve labored with licensed merchandise like Star Wars the place there’s an amazing quantity of world-building, however for a brand new, authentic IP, one of many new methods of growing has been permitting Dan the time to develop these new worlds in a sturdy method. That’s going to pay dividends down the highway.
GamesBeat: When you consider what players need sooner or later, how do you fulfill them? Perhaps taking into consideration how tastes and conduct may or won’t change. That window for players attempting out new IP as of late appears smaller and extra aggressive. 1000’s of Steam video games come out a 12 months, however players strive a model new recreation possibly 5-10% of the time.
Borrud: That’s very true. I’ll say, it was good to see the Sport Awards this 12 months. Quite a few new video games are popping out. 2024 has seen plenty of new IP getting launched and being profitable. There’s room for each. We’re not going to dethrone the video games which are on the high, however we do suppose there’s a possibility–I feel players crave new content material.
A technique we’re going to get there may be by having this sluggish introduction, the place we seed, over a number of years, these IP to folks. Even in our audio fiction proper now, I’m stunned what number of spoilers are in there. I take heed to it on the way in which to work and suppose, “I can’t believe we’re saying that.” Over a sequence of years we’re going to construct up this basis of what these merchandise can be. That speaks to a little bit of what players need now. They need to have interaction with the IP they’re enthusiastic about throughout the board, whether or not it’s Fallout or Final of Us or the Minecraft film coming subsequent 12 months.
We’re not simply totally different platforms that folks need to play on. I spent the final variety of years at Niantic players’ conduct because it pertains to Pokemon Go. That’s a totally totally different neighborhood. Getting a breadth of how players are going to have interaction with their video games, but in addition going throughout platforms. Conventional linear media is an thrilling place. Brief kind video and a few of these different media items are extremely thrilling. We need to create compelling worlds that gamers need to have interaction with, after which give them plenty of methods to actively have interaction with them. All via the lens of triple-A, high-quality merchandise.
GamesBeat: Are you able to discuss a bit about how large you’ve grown? Are you going to maintain increasing, or maintain regular?
Borrud: We’re about 50 proper now. We’re the correct measurement for prototyping and attempting out concepts with out being too massive. We now have fairly large progress plans in 2025. However our intentions are to not develop too massive internally. We need to develop to the correct measurement. Then now we have plenty of co-development companions we’re enthusiastic about who will assist develop our studio and our improvement measurement. 2024 has been an unbelievable 12 months for us, ranging from the start of the 12 months. We see that stage of progress and extra within the 12 months forward.
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