2010: Interviews of the Year Part 2

Danny Bilson, THQ

THQ's vice president of core games is another executive who gets around the media, and is always keen for an interview no matter how pushed for time. It helps that he gives very good quotes and gets his message across without relying on wooden media training clichés.

Like David DeMartini, we've spoken to Danny Bilson three times this year. Back in June while demoing Homefront, he tackled the subject of second hand games, describing persuading players to stick with a game online rather than trade it in as a "war" and revealed the publisher was very keen on implementing its own version of Project $10.

"We have to show the used gamer that new is premium, because you get everything for free in there," he said. "We actually have some other programmes in the works that aren't as punitive as locking out the used guy, that are more positive."

But later in the year he also went in-depth on the publisher's new studio in Montreal, a location that has benefited significantly from local government investment in the area. Should that type of financial assistance ever become available in the UK, THQ would be more than happy to build a super-studio in the region.

"It's all about money," he said. "The talent in the UK is extraordinary - I actually spent a couple of years of my career when I was helping out with the early days of the Harry Potter franchise with EA, I worked closely with the team there on the first three games. I got to know a lot of teams in the UK - it's one of the greatest talent centres in the world.

So there's no issue with talent; it's just economics - and if the government finds subsidies there, absolutely we would build out. We have a studio up in Warrington that's an excellent studio, working on our Xbox Live/PSN digital games, so we do have a studio in the UK... but I'm sorry, it's all about money at the end of the day. And talent - but the UK has always been, and still is, one of the greatest talent pools in the industry... there's phenomenal talent out there."

David Helgason, Unity

It's been another successful year for Unity, where it has sat at the heart of the booming mobile and web-based gaming scenes. CEO David Helgason always takes the time to meet with the media, and for this interview at GDC Europe we chewed through new and future business possibilities, with David picking my brains as much as me quizzing him.

The buzz around Facebook and social gaming was very much on the agenda during the entire event, with Helgason pointing out that neither would have grown to the monster they are now without one another.

"One thing that I think is a true statement is that Facebook may have made games on the web happen in a new way, but games also made Facebook happen in a new way. They became profitable for the first time because of the amount of money they were generating that then went back into driving traffic. It's a different thing - being a non-profitable company to a profitable one, and Facebook experienced that a year and a half ago," he pointed out.

He also acknowledged that global brands have leapt on web gaming, as they don't face the costs or restrictions imposed by home console gaming.

"I lot of stuff we're doing on the web is really high-brand. Marvel Superheroes, Cartoon Network, Disney, Warner. They want to bring great game experiences to the web and there's some pretty amazing stuff that has been announced and some stuff I can't talk about - it's incredible what's coming up," he said.

"They have the content, they have the brands, they have the ability to bring out really high-end games but they are not happy with the distribution channels they have now, with consoles. So they want to bring it to the web, and with the web you only need a really low-end target, something that works very broadly."