Interviews// Industry Insights: Alex Neuse, Gaijin Games

Posted 25 Apr 2013 10:16 by Svend Joscelyne

As part of an ongoing series, SPOnG gets the unedited, open and highly informed opinions of developers, producers and more in the vast world of computer games.

Industry Figure: Alex Neuse
Job Title: CEO, Designer
Company: Gaijin Games
Best Known For: BIT.TRIP series, BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Gaijin Games has made a name for itself with its seriously addictive BIT.TRIP series of titles. Originally released on WiiWare, the bitesize downloadable games quickly found their way on 3DS.

Recently, the studio has just released a sequel to the popular BIT.TRIP Runner. It's called BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. If that doesn't sound amazing I'm not sure what does.

With the game available on Steam, Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3, Gaijin has truly gone multiplatform - so we thought now would be a good time to ask Alex about his thoughts on the growing popularity of digital distribution, the next-generation and the challenges and opportunities that are round the corner.

Do you feel that an always-online future would be a positive one, for both developers and gamers?

An always-online future can only be good if you can ALSO play your games when not online. I know that it's tempting to think that we will always have the internet available, but there are a lot of parts of the world that don't have reliable internet, and restricting consoles to need internet connectivity seems like a decision to cripple whole regions of gamers.

Also, from a classic gamer's perspective, what happens when I want to fire up my device 20 years down the road and it can't connect? From a longevity standpoint, I can't imagine this being a good idea. So, I'd have to say that an always-online future seems pretty grim to me.

Following Sony's PlayStation 4 reveal event, how successful do you think next-generation consoles will be in capturing the indie and mobile gamer?

I think that next-gen consoles will have a hard time capturing the indie and mobile gamer. Consoles have antiquated ways of dealing with things, and unless they change their mindset about how games are delivered to their consumers, developers are going to leave consoles in the dust and opt for more forward-thinking delivery methods.