Shooting Star

Well, we've always worked on PS3, 360 and PC and I think that we'll continue to focus on those platforms in the future. We have stable and proven technology for those three platforms, a good engine and a proven track record on them. We'll certainly stick to those platforms whilst the format landscape looks about the same as it does now.

Handhelds are too far from what we're doing right now. I think that the three platforms that we're working on are all pretty similar in terms of processor power and they share certain synergies. Going in to mobile or DS development would be too much of a stretch with too little connection with what we're doing right now.

We have a great atmosphere in the Swedish development community. We've established strong, colloquial relationships with other Swedish developers and we get together to share ideas and knowledge with companies like Avalanche and DICE. It's a big advantage that there's a critical mass of talent and development people in Sweden and, frankly, Starbreeze wouldn't be as strong as it is without this environment.

It also creates a healthy environment for games education and contractors. Hansoft, for example, was started as an internal Starbreeze project back in the day and so we have a very good working relationship with them and now they're one of the most successful tools and support companies out there. The same goes for the motion capture studio Imagination Studios, they also started as an internal Starbreeze group, and I still view them as extended family.

We get a great reception from Swedish consumers and there's a certain amount of consumer patriotism for Swedish studios in general. Starbreeze is a well known company in Sweden and a couple of weeks back Starbreeze appeared 15th most attractive IT company to work for, on a list of hundreds of Sweden based IT companies. The likes of Microsoft, Google and Sony Eriksson were at the top and Starbreeze was the only company of its size to chart so highly. We value that very highly and we try to engage with the community by using some local testers and engaging the education community also.

We think it's very valuable and we do a lot of work with local educators, we also recruit a lot from them and we've found a lot of talented people that way. Of course, formal education on its own is certainly not enough to become a talented developer, usually people will also have spent a long time on hobby projects and the mod scene whilst growing up. But a formal education does provide a solid year or two of working on a portfolio and a strong portfolio is really the most important thing to have when looking to make a living from working in the games industry.

We try to cooperate with a number of Swedish game educators by giving lectures and we have interns from some education programs. What's very encouraging is that the quality of these institutions in Sweden has really improved in the last few years. But as I said, a formal games education is a great thing but it's not the only thing; working in the games industry is a little like being a professional musician, it is something that you have to work on for a long time before you can make a living from it. It requires a lot of talent and dedication.