Stonetrip: â??Self-publishing is the futureâ??

Stonetrip CEO Philip Belhassen has told Develop that, over time, he believes many more studios will make moves into self-publishing.

In an exclusive interview discussing the past and future of his company’s ShiVa 3D engine, Belhassen has predicted a series of important changes in the way the development industry will operate over the coming months and years.

“There will be more platforms and more interest in self-publishing. I think we’ll also see more studios looking to diversify projects by going to six to ten different platforms with a game to spread the costs out, but also hit different and emerging gamers,” he said.

“Casual games and social games have been very popular lately and we see that trend continuing as well. For engine developers, it’s going to be about how well they can service the users of their engine and continually deliver upgrades and enhancements that make development faster and easier, while increasing the quality of the final product.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Belhassen defined the reasons for his predictions with an assessment of the changes he sees in the industry today, and which he sees as likely to keep altering the sector over time.

“There has definitely been a move to smaller projects and multiple platforms. With thousands of new development studios popping up because of new, more open platforms like iPhone and Android, there are a lot of opportunities for developers and aspiring developers to make the game they want to make,” he said.

“We also see a lot of people making games that might have a specialty from a larger team, but through better tools, they can build games that are complete and of very high quality.”

The full article can be read here.