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PC specialist Iceberg Interactive went to Gamescom with some exciting games. Sales director Howard Newmark tells us more.
What did you bring to Gamescom this year?
The Iceberg Team had a significant presence at GamesCom this year, once again taking up a sizeable part of the Holland Pavilion.
We showed off several of our key releases for 2014 and early 2015, including Endless Legend, which is Amplitude’s follow up to Endless Space and Dungeon of the Endless, bringing turn-based 4X strategy down to one of the planets of the Endless universe. We also previewed Stardrive II, the follow-up to our hugely popular 4X title from last year. Starpoint Gemini 2 also made an appearence – judging by the sales figures from the Early Access release, this could be one of our most successful titles to date.
We were also very excited to showa very early version of Killing Floor 2 to selected members of the Press. Killing Floor has sold significantly north of 2 million units now, so the sequel is going to blow people away (and quite a few zombies, I suspect). We also showed our multiplayer arcade combat title Vector Thrust with its stunning cel-shaded graphics amongst other titles.
What’s been the reaction to these titles so far?
The beauty of Steam’s Early Access Program is that we get instant feedback directly from people playing our games – and they are always a vocal lot… We are really happy with the feedback so far, which has been both positive and constructive.
How has the PC games market changed for you over the last six months?
Well, we have been primarily a PC games publisher for 5 years, so we are not exactly latecomers to the platform. What has happened for us is that all of the work we have put in, when PC games were out of fashion, is starting to pay off – we are finding the sweet-spot in terms of the genres and production quality necessary to make hit titles. We are also the go-to publisher for developers who want a fair deal, with a publishing partner who understands their needs, and understands what is required to publish in a crowded marketplace.
In a world of Kickstarter and Steam Early Access, what role can Iceberg play in getting PC titles into the hands of consumers?
With platform holders opening up to developers, it might seem obvious that our role is somewhat redundant, but our role is actually more important than ever. Developing a great title is only half the battle – while there are some indie developers who have undoubtedly successfully released titles, there are also hundreds of developers who have suffered from poor visibility and subsequent low sales. We have a combined experience in games publishing of over 60 years – we understand what is required, both in terms of development processes, quality assurance, marketing, PR, and maintaining great relationships with all major portals. That is our role, and we love doing it.
What is Iceberg’s current ambitions?
Having survived GamesCom, we have a bustling Q4 to deliver – we will have our heads down working on that. We are also in discussion
