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From Hotline Miami to The Plucky Squire and Neva - Devolver Digital COO Interview

As we were attending the presentation of Neva by Nomada Studio in Barcelona we took the chance to catch up with Devolver's COO Graeme Struthers and to discuss their recent line-up, the label's trademark style, or the state of the video games industry.

Audio transcription

"Alright, I'm in Barcelona for the Neva presentation event by Devolver Digital and Nomada Studio and I'm pleased to be standing next to Graeme, COO of Devolver and I'm talking this low because there's a concert in the background but hopefully we can have a little chat about Devolver Digital and your games and your things First of all, I wanted to ask you about Neva What does this game mean after the successful GRIS in 2018-2019?
2018-2019, well, we liked working with Nomada a lot, we really enjoyed the experience of GRIS It's probably one of the games that we're seeing Often people see Devolver as being a company that's involved in games that are perhaps more typical, violent perhaps, you know, Hotline Miami always comes up, Enter the Gungeon So, GRIS was one of those games that had a very different style from what people normally expect from Devolver but we enjoyed the experience and of course, our view with Nomada is we'll follow them wherever they want to go next if they want to continue working with us, which they did, so we're very happy Any sort of results that you're expecting to reach or to achieve with this release compared to the previous game?
Any sort of goals that you want to really hit with this release?
Well, the difference, probably the biggest difference is that this time around the game is coming out on multiple platforms at the same time whereas previously it was very much coming out on PC and then Switch so that's a big change, a lot more work, a lot more effort and energy but it also means the game gets the chance to be received by the most number of players so that's the biggest change, so yeah, very happy about that Let's talk about other Devolver games that came out recently, such as The Plucky Squire How do you feel about that? It's very, very, very recent, very hot Yeah, recent being it came out on Tuesday, after four years of a lot of work so, again, the ambition there was to try and bring the game to as many platforms as possible which we've managed to do with All Possible Futures so, again, it's early days but the signs are really promising and we're very proud of the developer and proud of the game, so yeah, exciting It also adds that sort of different sort of face that you want to show It's not a violent company anymore, it's not about violence, it's about also artsy games and innovative indie games I mean, we always feel that we've been involved in those kind of games from the very beginning but we have to acknowledge that certain games became more famous like Hotline Miami, maybe Shadow Warrior, which are more recognisably violent but we've always been involved in games like Talos Principle also Swords of Ditto, which is a previous game from [Onebitbeyond] Bits, who's the designer of Plucky Squire so there's always been games like that, I mean, really we have a very diverse portfolio but, yes, you're right, we're more known for the..."

"more famous, I would say, for Hotline than we are for maybe Gris And also for being funny and quirky, such as, for example, with Anger Foot Yeah, well, we've worked with Free Lives now since 2014 and we've been through a whole range of their crazy adventures from Broforce, Genital Jousting, Terra Nil and Anger Foot as well as Gorn, their VR success so they're an interesting team to work with because they're very creative so, yeah, we love it You guys are also using some of your properties like going transmedia, like leaving video games, for example like, if I'm correct, working with Universal and in one adaptation is that correct?
So there's a number of projects that are in that Hollywood world where they've been auctioned, they're being adapted but, I mean, that's a world I'm not really familiar with but my understanding is that really what happens there is that people attach themselves to the project, they then try and take it to the studio to see if they want to pursue it but Cult of the Lamb is something that's being worked on There's still a Hotline Miami script somewhere in development in Hollywood so we'll see, we'll see Maybe Ryan Gosling wants to do it in the end Nice, nice What can we expect from you guys coming into 2025?
It's almost Q4, it's around the corner We have Neva around the corner, so what can we expect from you guys?
So, I have to be very careful not to make some announcement that has already been announced but we have, next year we have a whole, I mean there's a whole range of games coming out next year I think we anticipate something like 8 new releases So Heart Machine with Possessor(s) is one that we're very excited about Again, I'm very nervous because Nigel, who's in charge of all the marketing would kill me if I made some announcement But yeah, we've got a lot of exciting stuff, honest Now that I got you nervous, ok Next year a little new machine is coming out You know, the Switch was important for Devolver because you guys were on PC first and foremost and then the Switch became important for indie games in general also for Gris back in the day How do you feel both about the Switch and what it meant to you guys and being able to release games such as Black Squire and Neva and also about Nintendo releasing finally finally, so many years after releasing a new machine that people are going to play handheld So, I think a lot of the people who work at Devolver as well as a lot of the developers that work at Devolver are Nintendo fans go back to NES, Super Nintendo, all the way through To work on Nintendo is something that a lot of us have always wanted to do and the Switch device, I mean, it's done something that perhaps was against the trend It wasn't high-definition, it was a straightforward proposition and that made it much more indie-friendly I mean, I think, maybe, it's more challenging for Triple-A to try to work in that place So, I think we also benefited from this So, yeah, we had a great I think we've released something like 50 different games on Switch now So, we're excited about whatever Nintendo want to do next and we have to wait, like everybody, to see what that is But, yeah, we are excited So, I'm pretty sure you'll see some of the games, maybe even this one We'd like to imagine it has a place on that platform but we have to wait and see Okay, hopefully, yeah It's a really nice background music we're getting for this interview for free Closing one I have to ask you, I wanted to ask you about, you know, the industry and layoffs and recently we got news about Annapurna and some publishers having a difficult time How are you guys sort of surfing the wave?
How are you guys dealing with all this?
How do you feel about this tricky year?
I mean, firstly, it's never nice to see people losing their jobs and you mentioned Annapurna I mean, we see them as one of the best indie publishers in the industry Their catalogue of games has been fantastic so it's something of a shock Other layoffs, I think, there's a lot of analysis going on as to why that's happening We, as far as we see things, we are very optimistic about the future I think we've got quite a range of different projects and I think we always feel comfortable that we're not just in one place We're across many genres, many platforms So, it's a tough time especially when you see friends and other companies losing their jobs Also, it's affecting the media We're seeing a lot of things happening in the media which is a problem, I think because we rely on the media to spread the message I mean, we're a tiny company so for us, having media inside and seeing what we're doing is really powerful for us So, it's a concern when we see the media being..."

"Some quite famous sites have disappeared in the last six months So, that is a concern and I don't feel personally that the answer is always going to be through social media It has to be journalists are a critical part of our industry So, that is a concern, for sure I personally have to say that we appreciate that you guys share that concern because it's not always shared in that way So, yeah, thank you so much for your time Looking forward to playing more of Devolver's catalogue in the next year, thanks "

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