Welch ready to "dethrone" Call Of Duty
Ex-Activision vet and founder of U4iA wants to take down competition and hit 30m users with browser shooter
U4iA founder and Activision veteran Dusty Welch has revealed his expectations for his new Seattle studio, which includes taking on the Call Of Duty franchise that he helped to create.
"I created Call Of Duty to dethrone the established leaders back in the early 2000s, and you bet my goal at U4iA is to repeat that success again," he told GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview.
"Providing a AAA, first person shooter experience in a browser is really what the end game is for us. And I think that's going to help lead the new dynamic and a transition of gamers into the social."
Look at my track record and you can imagine that my goal for U4iA is to once again dethrone the established players, across the spectrum
The first person social shooter is as yet unnamed, but will be released next year.
He also discussed the opportunities provided by creating a shooter in the fast moving world of browser based gaming, and said he's confident about hitting the same numbers as companies like Riot Games, whose League Of Legends RPG just hit 30 million registered users.
"I think that yeah, U4iA can match or exceed the user base that Riot is experiencing today," he said.
"Much bigger genre, sticky proposition, e-sport competitive first person shooters are the hallmark of why so many gamers are playing on Xboxes and PlayStation 3s today, and we're going to provide a whole unique way to experience that in a AAA free-to-play package."
From anyone else this might seem an overconfident claim, but Welch has the track record to back it up, during his time as senior vice president and head of publishing at Activision he lead the Guitar Hero franchise, and created and launched Call Of Duty.
"I think you look at my track record of knocking off the established players and you can imagine that my goal for U4iA is to once again dethrone the established players, across the spectrum, across the space and allow gamers to again unite and experience the best consumer proposition that's available, and usher in a new genre experience. That's what U4iA is going to provide."