LA's Vision For Indie Titles

Interesting news in the gaming world this week. The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Hyman notes that video game power house publisher 3D Realms Entertainment has announced the inception of two subsidiary companies called Radar Group and Depth Entertainment, both focusing on publishing titles that will ultimately become specs for TV and film. CEO Scott Miller uses the concept of the "storyverse" as a logical reason to homogenize the two markets based on the success of other franchises such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Miller describes his vision for the companies by explaining that "It will all start at Radar with what I call the 'storyverse' -- or story universe -- which is a big bubble of story, character, and game play ideas...from that central hub, one spoke will go to game development, another will go to movie or TV production, and so forth."

The plan ultimately comes down to a vision for independent titles. Miller notes that "the plan is to find existing independent game developers that haven't had their big break yet and, utilizing the storyverse, work with them to create original IP in which they have some measure of ownership." Creating the two sister companies would provide the financial backup for the ideas to be taken further, resulting in a successful independent franchise.

Full Article: http://laist.com/2008/04/03/new_labased_gam.php