Embracing Indies: The Mezmer Games Interview
Today Crispy Gamer talks to Executive Vice President of Paradox Interactive, Fredrik Wester, the man in charge of the new Mezmer Games label. Fredrik fills us in on just what Mezmer Games plans to do to help promote independently developed games and developers, what it takes to get a game on the label, and even his favorite IGF finalists. Read on!
Crispy Gamer: I’ve read the handful of interviews that you’ve done on behalf Mezmer Games, but I want to cover some new ground. First why launch with just two games? There are thousands of indie games out there to choose from that fit in with what you are doing.
Fredrik Wester: There are a lot of promising indie games, and that is the main reason we started Mezmer Games. To use a cliché; Rome wasn’t built in a day and it will take some time for Mezmer to grow as well. The most important thing for us to begin with was to find some titles that we really like and are confident they have good sales potential. We plan on adding many different games this year. We not only want to be the publisher, but a partner when it comes to discussing the game content, quality, and other details surrounding the game.
CG: I assume that you’re not going to be locking down developers into exclusives - in other words they’ll still be able to sell their games elsewhere if they like, right?
FW: That’s part of the idea, yes. Some of our contracts will vary from developer to developer, but the idea is that we can, at least to some extent, have a non-exclusive agreement to work from. We want to be a platform where independent developers grow.
CG: When can we expect to hear more about new games you’ll be distributing?
FW: I think we’ll be able to present 4-5 new games before the end of summer. With all the interest we have garnered throughout the gaming community, we should be able to have some really talented teams signed up soon.
CG: You mentioned that you’re evaluating 8 games right now. How has the response been and have you picked up any more potential candidates since announcing the news service?
FW: We have a few games that have reached a “we like this title” status. Now we just need to evaluate the potential of each title and formalize an agreement.
CG: Let’s imagine for a moment that I’m an indie developer and I have a game I think is great. What criteria do I have to meet for you to evaluate my game?
FW: Write a compelling presentation about the game in five sentences, accompanied by some screen shots. A lot of people judge the game by graphics only, but most games that sound great from the first description and can stand out on its own merit, are typically great titles.
CG: What’s your favorite game among the IGF finalists this year? Care to pick a winner?
FW: I think all the games look great! I am especially thrilled about Blueberry Garden; I just love the concept. However, I must point out that I haven’t tested any of the games myself yet, but I’ll be doing that sooner rather than later. I hope to have the opportunity to meet some of the developers at the GDC.
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