One of the few local studios experiencing healthy growth during the current industry downturn is New Zealand's Sidhe Interactive. If I can recall the last Game Connect:Asia Pacific, Sidhe were the only studio that I knew of who were actively hiring during the conference late last year.
Stuff.co.nz is reporting that Sidhe have put on yet another 20 employees this year, bringing the sum up to near 120 staff members. Not bad, considering it's been the bleakest period in the Australasian game development period in living memory.
Sidhe have been evolving with the shifting game development climate, launching a new label concentrating on the iPhone/iPod Touch market called Pik Pok, and now they're planning to bring their award winning Shatter game to PC's later this month. More details at Stuff.co.nz!
Shatter in the IGF awards
Checked out Shatter at the IGF part of GDC. Cool game. The hot debate at GDC for me was 'What exactly constitutes an indie developer?'. Would make a good talk/panel.
I met up with one of the
I met up with one of the Sidhe artists at GDC, poor guy had Mario working him at the IGF booth like a slave! The game looked fantastic and it was great to find some NZ representation. Congratulations Sidhe on a well-deserved nomination.
Slave?
I thought the shackles were quite discreet. At least the whip marks weren't visible.
Stockholm syndrome
More than that, you had him convinced it was almost a holiday! But I knew there was a reason he didn't stray more than 3 metres from the booth.
Cause for further celebration
I saw Shatter topping the charts on Steam yesterday for the $10 and under game category. Only just sliding behind CS to #2 today (like that counts), it leaves me wondering - how many sales have you guys made?
I've also seen a lot of hubbub on /v/ and SA among other, more mainstream places - but Shatter seems to be drawing the interest of a full spectrum of people. When you guys choose to do your own IP, you know how to make it count.
Not sure yet
We haven't got our stats access yet, so not sure how it is selling just yet. Hopefully our position in the charts is some indication that it is doing relatively well.
Sales of the PSN version and soundtrack continue to be decent, and overall the IP has been both a critical and financial success for us. We are happy.
We are just starting to put our next original games into preproduction, so fingers crossed we have similar results.
Sheeeeeeeeeee
Haha, you sound so terribly restrained when giving due credit. Once the official stats are back I imagine it'd be cause for real celebration. Don't fall prey to too much of the tall poppy, you and the team are deserving of bigger congratulations. Well done Sidhe.