Industry veterans create independent gaming portal
Founded by games industry veterans Greg Costikyan and Johnny Wilson, Manifesto Games will launch in early 2006 with the ambition of forging a healthy industry for independent, niche and off-beat PC games.
Manifesto Games, a new site aiming to provide easy access to independent and niche PC titles, is set to launch in 2006, with the initiative being spearheaded by industry veterans Greg Costikyan and Johnny Wilson.
The portal will offer a range of games from small independent development teams and niche PC game publishers, including graphic adventures, flight sims, wargames and even massively multiplayer titles.
According to Costikyan, himself a designer with a large number of published games, independent games will be available for direct download from the site. The company's goal is to provide gamers with titles that are currently overlooked in the fiercely competitive PC games retail space.
Costikyan has often spoken about a lack of originality and innovation in the industry. He believes that the standard business models in the industry are stifling creativity and preventing quality, innovative titles from ever reaching market; a trend which Manifesto Games intends to reverse through dedicated support for independent games creation.
His partner in the venture, Johnny Wilson, is also a veteran of the games industry and held the position of editorial director for Computer Gaming World magazine from 1981 to 1999.
The Manifesto Games website will launch early next year, although no firm date has been announced to date.