Ex-Rockstar Directors Talk Games That Matter

Author: by Michael Borras, Vienna

At a press conference hosted today in Vienna, Austria by the founders of Games That Matter, ex-directors of Rockstar Vienna Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber, along with partner Jürgen Goeldner, presented their business model and goals for the newly formed independent games production company. With the intention of purchasing, developing and licensing game concepts internally, Games That Matter plans to offer publishers and potential investors the ability to, according to Managing Director Niki Laber, "participate in the actual IP without being forced to bear operative costs of a studio beyond the project." Games That Matter's small team, consisting primarily of ex-Rockstar Vienna staff, will be performing all aspects of the initial production for their titles, from scheduling and design to branding and vision, with content creation and development responsibilities being outsourced to strategic partners around the World. The business model behind Games That Matter closely mirrors that of the movie industry, with every project being spun off into its own individual company, allowing for a wide-range of investment opportunities with little risk for both Games That Matter and potential investors by keeping team sizes and potential overhead as low as possible. Games That Matter then sells or licenses the finished titles directly to publisher or distributors. “In my 20 years in this crazy industry I worked on original IP as well as licensed properties,” said Hannes Seifert, managing director and executive producer of Games That Matter. “With our new approach to game production we bring together ideas, investors and developers and help companies of all sizes to work with us on breathtaking titles without forcing them to grow to death.” Explaining further, Seifert added, “We will be able to offer publishers a finished game at a specific point in time without the risk of financing. And we offer investors a high return and long life cycle of their investment. We do not see investors as necessary evil, but as vital partners in production. And as such partners they deserve a fair share of a game’s success.” No announcements regarding projects or publishing partners have been made, though it was revealed that the team is currently working on one project and discussions with major investors and publishers are on-going. Prior to Games That Matter, Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber were managing directors for Rockstar Vienna, which was shut down in May of 2006 in what appeared to be cost-cutting measures by parent company, Take Two.