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Earlier this week, retail giant GameStop faced criticism over its plans to get involved in the game development process earlier to help create more attractive retailer exclusive content.
But rather than get involved in the creative process or tell developers “how to develop games,” CEO Paul Raines says that the initiative will simply see the retailer fund the content it wishes to offer to its customers.
“When you think about the business of gaming and the cost of developing games, we think there’s an opportunity to put capital at risk with publishers and developers in exchange for exclusive content that would be distributed through our online platforms, in stores, our download business, et cetera,” Raines told Time.
“So you can imagine that’s a long lead time process, and our discussions that we’ve been having and will continue to have revolve around how we could participate in some of the activity around funding or putting games at risk. It’s very early on, but I do foresee a world where we can help facilitate create great content.”
Responding to concerns, Raines assured players that “you won’t see us involved in the creative process. That’s not something we do well. We love to play games, and unlike our competitors all we do is gaming. But we will not be involved in the artistic or creative process. That’s not really our domain.
“What we do think though is that capital for this industry is always challenging, and has been through the decline of the console cycle,” he continued. “So we’ve made strategic investments in ImpulseDriven.com and Kongregate.com and BuyMyTronics.com. And with Kongregate we’re already funding developers.
“So all we’re talking about is extending that capital and distribution skill-set into the console publishing and development space. But I don’t think that involves any creative controls or influence at all. I think we’d be foolish to tell developers how to develop games or publishers how to bring product to market. That’s what they do extremely well. What we’ll do well is put capital at risk and help distribute and connect with PowerUp Rewards customers. That’s really the extent of what we’re talking about. I think the day you see us in the creative side is when you can tell me we’ve officially lost our minds.”
Source: time.com (via Polygon)
