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Today Seattle-based Giant Bite Games officially opened its doors. Founded by game industry veterans Hamilton Chu, Michael Evans, Andy Glaister, and Steve Theodore, Giant Bite describes itself as "a next generation game development studio focusing on the creation of excellent games and a fun workplace."
Giant Bite's team has a wealth of experience in making top-flight games, having worked on Halo, Halo 2, Half-Life and Counterstrike. They've also been involved in making key contributions to Microsoft's DirectX technologies. Collectively Giant Bite's executive team has shipped over thirty games with over twenty million units sold.
Hamilton Chu is a twelve-year industry veteran who's served as Producer, Lead Producer and Executive Producer at Bungie for six years through the development of Oni for PC/Mac, Halo for Xbox and PC/Mac, and Halo 2 for Xbox. Michael Evans has been in the industry for ten years and he also held senior roles at Bungie. He was Lead Engineer and Project Lead on Oni, he led the multiplayer experience on Halo, and he served as an Engineering Lead on Halo 2. Evans also recently helped Rare deliver the title Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360 launch.
Andy Glaister has been in the game industry for a whopping twenty-five years. He's held senior developer or technical director positions at Viacom New Media, Kinesoft Development and FASA Interactive. When Microsoft Game Studios acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 Andy then began to work as a Development Manager in the game studios, working with developers such as Bioware, Gas Powered Games, Doublefine, Pipeworks, Gearbox, Turbine, Climax, Rare and Bungie. Most recently, he spent his last two years at Microsoft as the Development Manager for the Windows Graphics and Gaming team, managing all the programmers working on DirectX 10, display drivers, Windows Parental Controls, the DirectX SDK and the graphics and gaming features in the upcoming Windows Vista.
Steve Theodore joined the game industry in 1995, modeling and animating for Fasa Interactive's Mech Commander. In '97 he joined Valve to work on Half Life, Team Fortress, CounterStrike, Team Fortress II, and several online projects. Following his time at Valve, Steve did research and development on the Granny animation system at Rad Game Tools from 2002 to 2004. Most recently, he was the Technical Art Manager for Zipper Interactive, helping them to transition to next generation graphics technologies. Steve also writes the monthly art column for Game Developer magazine.
"We're proud of our work at Bungie, Microsoft and Zipper," commented Michael Evans. "It was amazing to work with such fantastic teams on games that turned out so successfully. And now, we're excited to build something of our own."
Added Andy Glaister: "Giant Bite will keep the traditions of world class production values and cohesive game play. We see a great opportunity to build the sort of company that we always wanted to work for."
Giant Bite says that it's currently in discussions about its first project.
Exclusive Q&A with Hamilton Chu Shortly after the news broke today we got in touch with Giant Bite's Hamilton Chu to find out a bit more about the new studio's goals and strategy for success. The interview follows below.
GameDaily BIZ: So where did the name Giant Bite come from?
Hamilton Chu: Well, we debated for weeks, considering every aspect of our new name. It had to be catchy and memorable, fun yet dignified, unique but easy to spell. Finally we came up with the perfect name and started running ahead full steam -- we incorporated, set up our web server, got our logo, the whole deal. Unfortunately, a few weeks later we found out that someone was already using the name. So, we ended up going with Giant Bite. But now we love Giant Bite. Really really love it. We can't even remember why we might have ever wanted a different name. Honestly!
BIZ: Your members have worked on some of the most popular first-person shooters in the industry. Is your focus at Giant Bite going to be on FPS titles?
HC: We certainly have a lot of experience in the FPS genre. However, I think more important is our experience in creating deep and polished game play. Some of our games may include FPS elements, but every single one of our games will have the world-class production values we helped to create in Halo, Halo 2 and Half-Life.
BIZ: Which platforms do you intend to create games for? Do you have a preference?
HC: Every platform has its positive features. We're luckier than many studios, because we've already got hands-on familiarity with the Xbox 360, the PS3, and Windows Vista. We've also been following the Revolution closely. Our specific platform decisions will come down to what is best for a specific project.
BIZ: What can you tell us about your first project? What kind of game is it and when do you expect it to ship?
HC: Our first project will be an epic and enthralling action game. We are going to build on our founders' track-record in creating world-class production values in the tradition of Halo, Halo 2, Half-Life and Counterstrike.
BIZ: What have your experiences with the Halo and Half-Life franchises taught you about the game development process? Any lessons learned that will be even more important now as the industry heads towards the next generation?
HC: Something that I think we've taken away from our past projects is the importance of an unwavering focus on the player experience. You definitely need great core game mechanics, but you also need to make sure the overall experience is good. It's key to pay attention to details like making sure the loading times aren't egregious, that the learning ramp is both easy and interesting, that there are great moments to tell your friends about so you enjoy it even the next day.
BIZ: With the cost of making games increasing and publishers being afraid to take risks with new IP, it can be difficult for independent developers in today's market. What's your strategy to be successful as an independent studio?
HC: We strongly believe that gamers are willing to buy games from new studios. Half-Life and Halo were both new IP and did tremendously well. Publishers recognize that there are still opportunities for break out hits to be successful in today's climate. We are excited to have a chance to show publishers and ultimately fans that we are going to make something really fun and exciting.
BIZ: What has publisher interest been like for you? Does your first project have a publisher yet?
HC: So far, we have had great publisher response. Talks are ongoing, and we don't yet have anything to announce regarding a publishing partnership.
BIZ: Have you thought about releasing your games on your own via online download? What are your thoughts on digital distribution? A lot of indie studios seem to be embracing it...
HC: Digital distribution is a great way of reducing the cost of getting content to the end user. But this is only a small part of the costs involved in developing, marketing, pushing and supporting a AAA game title. We are looking forward to working with a publisher to see how we can leverage online community and digital distribution to help better connect with our player community.
BIZ: Anything you'd like to add about Giant Bite?
HC: "One small bite for man, one Giant Bite for mankind."
BIZ: Thanks for your time, and good luck with Giant Bite.
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