We continue to summarize the results of 2019 together with the managers of gaming companies and market experts. Next up is an interview with Jeanne Rousseau, CEO of the French studio Spiders.
How was 2019 for the company?
The year was full of business. We had to put a lot of effort into making the final version of our beloved GreedFall meet our expectations. Sometimes it was really difficult. We wanted GreedFall to be our best game. We also wanted to “refresh” the genre and tell a cool story. All this is not so easy to achieve.
There were moments when we doubted our decisions, ourselves, and the project. However, we also met amazing people who brought a lot to the game. We were also actively supported by the game community. Thanks to him, we remained calm during the final stages of development.
The success of GreedFall has restored our self-confidence and inspired us for future achievements.
2019 also turned out to be a transitional year for us. Since we wanted to continue growing, we needed a partner for this. We went on a business tour and talked to various publishers. Then we met with BugBen. He bought us in September. This is a serious event, but it’s for the best. In addition, we share the same philosophy regarding games: they should be created with fire in their eyes for enthusiastic players.
What events in the regional and global gaming industry do you consider central in the past year?
As ridiculous as it may sound, given the failure of the platform at the start, I consider it important to enter the Google Stadia market. For many years, only Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and various PC platforms like Steam were on the market. The appearance of completely new actors, although not entirely successful, is always interesting.
The fact that we are talking about cloud gaming, more than anything else, testifies: it can really change gaming habits. Other major platforms and companies will soon announce themselves here too, but Stadia has taken the first step in a completely new direction. And I’m really curious to see how this will change the industry in the future.
What are the main trends in the market today?
The market is as big as ever, but at the same time it is very segmented. Some players are interested exclusively in AAA games, others prefer indie and AA titles, and are constantly in search of new experiences. There is also a wide audience of players who do not consider themselves gamers, because they spend time on mobile projects. As a result, you need to invest a lot in marketing if you want to reach a wider audience than the one who would be interested in your game.
Anyway, I tend to think that it’s better to make games for target players — games that you yourself love — than to try to please everyone, risking not satisfying anyone in the end.
Which game releases were the most important this year? Plus, which games did you spend the most time on in 2019 as a gamer?
I would say Death Stranding. I haven’t played it yet, but it’s obvious to me that such a strange and ambiguous game like this brings something new to the industry. This is an art house from the world of AAA games. Something that didn’t exist before and that allows us to hope that more of these strange, ambiguous, art-house games will get a substantial budget.
Checking my GOG and Steam accounts, I couldn’t help but notice that I “ate” Crusader Kings II most of my time. I really love this type of games, even though I don’t like Paradox’s policy of selling games in small pieces.
And, of course, I also had to play GreedFall a lot.