Blade Interactive Games

We wanted to set Blade up to work on original product which distinguishes us from the modus operandi of a majority of developers looking to do work for hire. We like to create our own games and our own intellectual products - if you're going to run a games company you should be creating nice products, that's what we all wanted to do from the very start.

We also set Blade up to work on new technology. As a company we've been one of the few developers to be the first to release a PlayStation 1 game, a PlayStation 2 game, a PSP game and now a PlayStation 3 game. And now mobile is very much an extension of our activities. We regard mobile as cutting edge.

We have a rare edge over a lot of developers in that we have a true multiplatform development strategy. All of the tools we've created ourself have been developed around that strategy. Sony has been bowled over when we've had a development kit for only a week and we've had the basics of the snooker game running within a week on PSP. We're not blowing our own trumpet on that but it's one of of company specialities. We have a really strong tool chain that maximises each one of the formats.

In a very real sense our mobile games are treated in the same way. Not only from a tools point of view but also in terms of production values, testing, the lot. We don't really make the distinction - we apply the same level of professionalism to mobile as we do to any other project.

We didn't want to produce little 2D side-scrolling, jump-the-boxes gameplay. We finally see the time as right.

Yes. You've only got to look at the Sony Ericsson developer website where it's really pushing the 3D capabilities of the new handsets. Everyone who goes to that website can't help but notice that Sony Ericsson, for one, are just so strongly behind 3D. We were maybe a little early in our estimates but now it seems that we're certainly at a decent level of quality in terms of 3D. We're ready for the 3D revolution and it will be a revolution.

We can't emphasise that enough. If you look at some of the games that are out there on mobile - they're just awful. There are still so many mobile game development studios that don't do 3D. I mean, for God's sake, what are they doing?

Just look at what Electronic Arts has done to the industry since it entered. It's only been in the mobile gaming market for a little while but it had six out of the top ten games recently.

Well, it's another platform for us to dominate snooker.

We looked at the market because the technology was right and we also looked at the way that snooker and pool games sell very well on handheld consoles. It's a bite size game that people can identify and get to grips with easily. It lends itself to the format so well. It's an area we can dominate for a couple of reasons. One, because we have very strong licenses and two, because we have the technology and expertise. We've produced them on everything from PlayStation 3 right down to mobile.

It's a difference of approach. Our approach is to not necessarily run a mobile division in the initial phases as even a profit centre. Our mobile division is run to achieve a certain level of excellence and brand dominance. Once that is achieved then we can start to make money. That's the absolute truth. That's what distinguishes us from virtually every other mobile studio. Mobile developers are looking to do porting jobs and to make a profit on every game.

And that's a viable business model but it's not our business model.

It has been so far. We're still around and we're profitable. Through the dark years of console development when everyone went bust we were still making a profit. If you look back at our snooker brand in the early days, in the first couple of years we lost money on it. We paid for the licenses and we produced a quality product we believed would oust everyone else in the market and to a large extent we're looking at mobile in the same way. It's a methodology thing. The market is changing and we say bring it on.

This is exactly the point. Our current philosophy is going to last up to the shake up of the mobile market. Once the shake up happens - and it is going to happen - we'll find ourselves in a very strong position. Our financial risk in terms of our day-to-day business is not as great as it is for other developers for whom this is their core business. Realistically, it's not going to stay like this, but within the time-scale we're looking at the business it is entirely viable.

It's history repeating itself. The same thing happened in the games industry with the console market. It's exactly the same thing. There were a whole load of small publishers out there, a whole load of people just churning out crap. Frankly, there was a load of rubbish on the market. There was some very good stuff obviously, and those companies, products and brands are still alive today. But it's really a re-run of history on the mobile market right now. But as Gary just said, there's a shake up coming. We aim to be a dominant brand and what we want people to do is to download our product and to see that it's a great game.

That can be quite trying at times. The holy grail in that respect is to have a set up where you write the code and produce the assets once and then they can be ported. Historically, that can be very difficult because platforms are different. But with the latest platforms, realistically, they can all manage much the same material. It's only in our mobile work that we're having to take a step back and produce a number of different versions of a game. But still, because we've got this philosophy built into the core of the company that we try to work on everything together as long as we possibly can, our assets where they can be shared are shared.