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Smaller Publishers Still Have Power
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I've just finished reading a really good article on Strategy Software who have published titles such as WWII Online and many other strategy games many people are familiar with.
Over its 13 years in existence, Montreal-based Strategy First has grown into a top publisher of strategy games for the PC. President and co-founder Don McFatridge told GameDaily that the company actually began in business by creating a hockey (!) game.
"I used to be in banking and also used to write for a smaller Montreal computer magazine which gave me a lot of contacts in the industry. That in turn led me to think that I could put together a team of people that could develop products. We started, part time at first, and came up for a concept of a hockey game, since who could develop a hockey game better than a group of guys from Montreal?"
Unfortunately, the game was ambitious and took the group too long to finish, even though some touted the game as "best 2D hockey game ever created," according to McFatridge. By the time the group published the game, a company named Electronic Arts had come along, only two weeks before, and released the first 3D hockey game. Adding insult to injury, McFatridge remembers that EA even offered a $10 rebate on their game to "make sure that we were killed at retail."
At the same time McFatridge and his cronies were developing their doomed hockey game, they were also doing contracted artwork for Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), Strategy First's first foray into their eventual lifeline, strategy games.
McFatridge said, "SSI originally thought Steel Panthers was going to be a 10,000 to 15,000 unit seller for (game designer) Gary Grigsby, and it turned out to be a phenomenal hit for SSI, who basically attributed its strong sales to the artwork we did for it."
You can read the rest of the story over at GameDaily by clicking here.
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