On the game

Friday 1st June 2001

Why have so few Kiwi developers latched onto the multi-billion dollar game market, asks Paul Brislen

James Bond changes down a gear and accelerates down the brick-lined tunnel, desperately trying to put some distance between himself and the car behind. His Aston Martin howls and shrieks, its tyres scrabbling to gain traction. Bond knows he has to do something to shake off the jackals behind. He reaches for his PlayStation console ...

First, it was James Bond the book. Then, it was James Bond the movie. Now, meet James Bond 007, PlayStation racing game. This hot Christmas seller is one of many new-generation games that's helping the formerly geeky world of computer games overtake comfortable entertainment stables, including the movie industry, in real dollar terms. The gaming industry, according to research company IDC, is worth roughly $US8.5 billion in the US alone - that's slightly more than the movie industry makes from box office receipts.

That's a pretty cool victory for nerds around the world. But you know the best thing about the Bond game? Its US-based developer, Ballistic Pixel, used tools from a New Zealand company, Right Hemisphere, to help create the thrills and spills.

"For the Bond game they [Ballistic Pixel] used our tools on the four cut scenes," says marketing manager Mary Alice Krayecki. Cut scenes are the animated short films that join chapters of the game together. After a hard-won fight the player can sit back, massage those carpal tunnel symptoms and watch while the new mission is outlined. Usually the quality of the cut scenes is far better than the quality of the game itself, something that has annoyed gamers for years.

For its work, Right Hemisphere will only have earned the cash from a single sale, but in terms of reputation that sale is immeasurable. The company has won awards in the US for its developer tools and has the support of people like Intel's former New Zealand country manager, Scott Gilmour, which has allowed the company access to Intel's latest chips, including pre-release versions of the Pentium IV and the 64-bit Itanium. Right Hemisphere boasts export sales of $4 million a year.

So few

That's good for Right Hemisphere. But why are there so few game developers in New Zealand?

There's no doubting the growth in the industry. "Games are competing with movies, with live events like sports, with cable and satellite TV and so on. They're getting more sophisticated and they're taking a larger chunk of the available entertainment dollar and the entertainment hour," says Mike Wynands, managing director of EA Sports in New Zealand. EA is the world's largest games distributor, with offices in 75 countries and a stable of developers around the world. This year's top games are all EA games, including Clive Barker's Undying and the visually stunning Black and White.

Wynands says the other entertainers should be concerned. Games are about to take a quantum leap up in the popularity stakes with online gaming, where players compete against each other, poised to hit mainstream. All it's waiting for is the internet infrastructure, such as high-speed connections. "From a gaming perspective, the internet offers awesome opportunities to create new interactive experiences and enhance current game play," says an IDC report on the industry. "Online gaming is here to stay and will have a very real and positive impact on the consumer gaming experience."

So back to the main question: why is this such a US-centric business? Cost, in the first place. Experience, in the second. "These games cost between $US2 million and $US5 million each to make - they're not cheap," says Wynands. "That's part of the problem here in New Zealand. We're still trying to do them on the cheap because we don't have that wealth of experience."

But in principle there's no reason why New Zealand game designers can't take advantage of the experience and development skills we do have. Games are a mixture of programming and art, and computer-based artists generally don't have much of an outlet for their talent, he says. And the games market eats designers for breakfast - there are never enough to go round. Here in New Zealand we have quality talent in relatively large numbers.

"There's no reason why we wouldn't look at New Zealand-developed games," offers Wynands. One opportunity is in the sports simulation market. EA is particularly interested in getting help with its rugby and cricket games - sports the Americans know little about. Yet the potential market for such games is huge, encompassing the UK, South Africa and India, as well as Australia and New Zealand. EA is building a design facility on Australia's Gold Coast to work on two such games due out this year.

"Once we get the boom in demand from online gaming we will be looking for more developers, that's for sure." Wynands expects the already burgeoning market to grow by 25% by 2003. New Zealand game developers can carve out their place in that market.

Local developers

After a true nerdy working-from-the-spare-room start, Mario Wynands (no relation to Mike Wynands, really!) has grown his game development company Sidhe Interactive (sidhe.co.nz) to a team of 16, and $1.2 million in revenues. He expects to have 30 staff by year-end. "We work on games for PlayStation II and Microsoft's Xbox too, usually as a sub-contractor to other companies."

Wynands says there are problems with working in New Zealand but there are also benefits. "Distance does make it hard - people can't just drop by the office for a chat. But with the internet we can do the work from New Zealand and take advantage of the New Zealand dollar as well, which really helps." Wynands says a lot of his time is spent talking to development companies and distributors and for that he travels a lot, but it's paying off slowly.

"We're working on a game to tie-in with a toy licence - it should be out in the US in November and released here by Christmas."

Meanwhile, only one other local game developer Unlimited could track down is trying his hand at developing his own game, from scratch. "Our game is more like being the boxing coach than the boxer," says Mike Ward, director of Liquid Edge (roboforge.com). Its first game, RoboForge, is due to be released on May 9 and Ward hopes it will bring a "professional athlete" quality to the gaming world.

"Players build robots that they then send to one of our arenas, where they fight against other robots." Players don't control the actual fight, but build and pre-program their creations to respond in certain ways. Between bouts they can tweak the settings, replace lost limbs and generally make running repairs to get their contenders back on their feet, wheels or tracks.

If you've seen RoboWars or Battlebot on TV then you've seen the real life version of what these guys do. Ward says he's been approached by both TV shows but they baulk at the idea of working with a company in New Zealand.

"When you're in their office they're all gung-ho about it, but once you've left they remember just how far away you live and put you in the too-hard basket. Once RoboForge is on the market they will be able to see what we can do, and that should be a springboard to get us to the next level."

If online gaming is going to be huge in the next couple of years, you ain't seen nothing till you consider games and cellphones. With the so-called third generation high-speed data phones coming our way in the next few years, mobile users will become part of the mix as well. And with billions of mobile devices, from cellphones to palmtop devices, the market looks set to boom for some time to come.

Paul Brislen

Barriers to entry

Lower Hutt-based Sidhe Interactive is one of only a handful of game developers in New Zealand. Why so few? "We had to overcome some significant barriers," says co-founder Mario Wynands. Here are four.

No money: "It's such a new area of business for New Zealand that banks would laugh us out of the place," says Wynands. "So would venture capitalists. They see the games market as small fry. They don't take it seriously."

Solution: Wynands and partners worked two jobs - IT consulting by day, programming for Sidhe by night. Then they used their own savings to go full time.

No reputation: "To really convince someone you can do the job without having a reputation, you need to be sitting in front of them and they need to be visiting you three or four times during the project. But that's hard when the customer is in Europe or the US."

Solution: The team created a game they showed at trade fairs. Wynands emailed, rang and visited every possible customer he could think of until securing a small project in Australia.

No help: "We didn't fit any of the government assistance programmes' criteria. And we couldn't get any advice because no one here has that kind of capability."

Solution: They just did it anyway.

No world domination: "Everyone wants to make the game that will change the world. We were overly ambitious with our first game."

Solution: "Start small. Aim for the Game Boy market. Try to do about three as complete products before thinking about the big-time. Game developers may be good at programming, but most are bad at business."

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