Independent studios face tougher challenges, says Relic boss

Relic Entertainment's Ron Moravek has told GamesIndustry.biz that there's still room for both independent and in-house developers - but that the challenges for indies are getting tougher.

"Because games are so much more expensive and so much more complex, you're really seeing a divide in terms of the ultra-high quality versus the low quality. There's fewer people making higher-end games," Moravek said.

Relic, which was acquired by THQ two years ago, made its debut in 1999 with hit PC title Homeworld - and since then, Moravek believes, things have become a lot more difficult for independent studios.

"Homeworld was made for $2.1, $2.2 million, something like that. You look at today's games, where they're costing between $10 and $20 million, and maybe the big games - the Halo 3s and the next GTA are probably going to be $25 million - it's like, how would you do that as an independent? It's so, so difficult."

Moravek went on to observe that more manpower is required to produce games today, comparing the development of Homeworld to that of Company of Heroes, Relic's forthcoming World War II RTS game. "On Homeworld, we had 21, 22 people at the max; on Company of Heroes, we've got a hundred. It would be very, very difficult... I do think there's room; it's just challenging."

According to Moravek, Company of Heroes is the best game Relic has ever produced - but it's still not perfect. "We've been working on producing the best real time strategy game for nine years - and we feel like we're not there," he said.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But you always feel like you can do better. With Company of Heroes, it's definitely the best thing we've ever done, absolutely; we'll have to see what the market thinks."

Company of Heroes is slated for release on September 29th. Read the full interview to find out more about Relic's future plans, the studio has fared since the THQ acquisition and why they won't support the Wii.