Hare launches new digital publisher Tower Studios

UK developer Jon Hare has unveiled his Tower Studios publishing venture, with a micro-transaction business model influenced by old arcade machines.

The publisher will release games for free, with users able to buy 10 extra lives for a dollar once their initial allocation of free credits has been used – a system Hare has dubbed 'Free for Freaks'. First titles are due this year from a partnership with Vivid Games, with the veteran behind 16-bit classics such as Cannon Fodder offering partners a 50/50 split of profits.

"If people want big advances for their games it's not going to happen, that's not how we work," Hare told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview published today.

"We work on quality and we reward that with what I believe is the best business model. The best developers for us to work with are those that have got their own stable work for hire jobs and get a little frustrated at that lack of creative satisfaction."

The company plans to release new titles as well as some retro licenses beginning on the iPhone and iPad, then Samsung handsets, Android phones and browsers.

"It's been frustrating for me for many years because I like doing original games and it's quite hard to find a platform and a publisher to support you on it," he added. "I've been planning self-publishing routes for the last year and a half and it's got to be done in a way that makes financial sense, it's interesting to run and the products are good.

"These platforms allow me to work with some good teams and product, with innovative gameplay, innovative economic models and a mixture of classic licensed games and original games."

Hare admitted that working with licenses may change the business models slightly, but the general plan across the portfolio of Tower Studios games is to unify pricing where possible.

"It's an experiment really. We've analysed it and thought about it and it seems to be a good model and obviously having the game for free should generate the volumes for downloads and help publicity. And we hope that the economic model works well and we'll find that people are getting into the game and they're happy to buy extra lives to continue their progress and carry on."

Once the company is established, Hare hopes to bring the games together with an overarching service, for which Tower Studios is currently seeking investment.

"Our plans for networking the games up, when we get around to doing that, they are really sophisticated. You've got to aim to do what the technology is capable of doing comfortably. There's loads of stuff you can do in theory, but it's what you can do that the Apple store can support practically, and what the internet is capable of doing," he said.

The first title released from Tower Studios will be Vivid Games' Shoot to Kill.

The full interview with Jon Hare can be read here.