Hollis: ‘Downloads revitalise the industry’

Martin Hollis, the producer/director of Rare’s widely-acclaimed GoldenEye N64 game and founder of new studio Zoonami – which is nominated for a Develop Award – has said the future of games culture is "not compatible with a £40 price point" and that smaller, cheaper, downloadable games are a better fit for a wider market.

Speaking with Gamasutra, he talked about how his own studio Zoonami – founded six years ago but has only recently seen the release of its first game, Zendoku – has had to wait for to market catch up with its ambitions.

"Downloadable games are what [Zoonami has] been waiting for," he said. "For the first six years of our existence, the world wasn’t configured to suit us, because we’re not making the obvious type of retail game but now downloads suddenly change everything. It’s great for developers in general because it will mean more new and novel games with low budgets. And on a wider level, I think it will mean a revitalisation for the whole games industry away from games that have been turning off a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about us professionals."

He added: "The idea of being able to make a game that costs £5 is very interesting. I think gaming should be something that everyone does, and that’s not compatible with a £40 price point."

Tomorrow, Hollis is making an appearance at the Cambridge branch of UK games retailer GameStation to host a talk about games development and the games industry, and to promote new game Zendoku.