Console returns not attractive for Moshi Monsters creator

Mind Candy founder Michael Acton Smith has that he's reluctant to take the Moshi Monsters brand to home consoles because of the long development cycles, high costs upfront and low returns.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz after his presentation at Develop earlier this month, the Moshi Monsters creator said there is a possiblity of taking the online game to cheaper platforms, but it has to be an "exciting" process for the studio.

"We are dipping our toe in the water with the DS, yes, and we think that's the perfect platform for our audience to try, and if that works well then I think we'll look at other areas as well. Maybe the Wii or the Kinect," he explained.

There's just more headache and more uncertainty involved than creating our own game where we're developer and publisher

Michael Acton Smith, Mindy Candy

"But with my commercial hat on, it's just not quite as exciting as building an online game. The development cycles are long, the upfront risk is high, the returns just don't seem that attractive, there's a lot of other partners that would be involved, so there's just more headache and more uncertainty involved than creating our own game where we're developer and publisher, where we have a direct relationship with the end audience, where we make 90 per cent less gross margins etcetera etcetera."

He admitted that this may change in the future though, as he transforms the hugely popular children’s MMO into transmedia brands.

"We need to be everywhere that our audience wants us, and that does mean console, and magazines and books." The company already has a strong merchandising strategy, which is expected to earn it £60 million this year.

For the full interview with Acton Smith, head over to the features section.