Anthony Gowland is a ten-year industry veteran responsible for designing games including Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Red Dead Redemption. Joining Rockstar Leeds as a mission scripter, Gowland was quickly promoted to senior designer after just three months and has spent the past six and a half years overseeing the studio's output. Last month, however, he decided to strike out alone, leaving big-budget development behind and setting up mobile development studio Mainly About Games. We sat down with Gowland to discuss the reasons behind his move, players' perception of value in games and why mobile development is practically a seperate industry.
In terms of releases, Rockstar seems to be at the top of its game right now. What inspired your departure?
Like you say, Rockstar are exceptionally good at what they do, but at the same time, these are big titles. Even Chinatown Wars, which is a DS game, took us two years to make. That's what those guys shoot for: it's got to be the best at what it is when it comes out, so you have to spend that amount of time on it. I wanted faster iteration. I'm a game designer, I like to think of a thing, have a go at making it, and if it works keep going down that route, if it's not working throw it away and start again.
So what's the ethos behind Mainly About Games?
The main thinking was pretty much just to move away from the triple-A side of things. I wanted to focus more on doing little bits of gameplay, smaller games that someone might play over their lunchbreak, or for half an hour here and there, that maybe take only a couple of months to develop. I wanted a much faster creative turnaround than you used to get on a big title.
Is high profile development in danger of turning stale in your opinion?
I wouldn't necessarily say turning stale. I think with the industry how it is at the moment, and the amount of money that goes into those games, it's clear why everything has to be clearly defined in terms of how much money you're expecting to get back. And that doesn't necesarily allow for the kind of turnaround and creativity you'd get from a 59p iPhone game. If your overhead is just one or two guys in a studio and an outsourced artist, you've got a lot more freedom there without potentially losing a lot of money.
Mainly About Games founder Anthony Gowland (above left) and a screen from one of his projects at Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Can the gradual lengthening of big-budget game development cycles be sustained, or do you think it will peak at some point?
That's a tricky one to be honest; that side of the business I'm not so sure on. I think there's a risk that you'll spend a lot of money making a game, and then be outsold by Zumba Fitness... In terms of that, there's not a lot of stability in any of the game industry really. You're as likely to see the mid-level studios disappearing as you are some of the smaller guys - even Infinity Ward have had their troubles. Making games seems to be quite volatile.
Is making games that can be played in a lunch break any less volatile, though?
People are still going to buy Call Of Duty; [Activision has] got two million people signing up for Call Of Duty: Elite beta. But the way the industry is at the moment, the iPhone is there as an option, just like everything else. Not every TV programme is going to be The Sopranos, but not every TV programme is going to be Eastenders either. You've got to have a range of entertainment there. I think we went through a period - through PS2 and early this generation - where it didn't seem that there was anything there other than shooting for triple-A and making that gamble with your money - it had to pay off.
Whereas now, Epic have said that if they do another iPhone game they'll definitely put in-app purchases in it because they've found that they can make millions of dollars from selling gold in Infinity Blade. It comes to something when a company as cutting edge as Epic turns round and says, 'Look, we can still make the Unreal Engine, we can still make Gears Of War and we can still make a lot of money doing these things, but at the same time helping Chair make Infinity Blade is working out for us as an additional revenue stream.' I think that's possibly the way things will start going: big companies won't be able to rely on that once-a-year massive hit anymore.
So Call Of Duty is the Eastenders of videogames?
[Laughs] I'm not one of the gaming snobs that says if I can understand the story line then it's not artistic enough. I mean, I like Braid, but I like Serious Sam, as well.