Neversoft Q&A

In the wake of Neversoft's recent announcement that the veteran developer is splitting into two teams to work on the juggernaut Tony Hawk franchise and another original title, we pinged Neversoft about the fundamental change that's been made to the company's structure to see how it will affect the Southern California-based developer. Joel Jewett, president of Neversoft Entertainment, answered our questions and offered some insight into the studio's future.

GameSpot: So why the split into two teams?

Joel Jewett: The history is this: Neversoft is now 10 years old, and we really wanted to do something new. But there was no way we wanted someone else to work on the Hawk franchise, since it is sort of our baby. (Well, maybe now it has grown to be our kid.) Anyway, the only choice was to expand the company into two teams. So what we did was create a small mixed team of some senior guys and some of our best junior guys, and we put them onto the new project to lay the groundwork for the new game. And, at the same time, we kept a well-rounded group of guys on Tony Hawk's Underground 2.

Right now we are in a very exciting position as a company. The Hawk franchise is probably stronger than ever (I say this because THUG 2 is almost done, and it's fun as hell), and we are sitting on the makings of a totally new franchise, which we plan to establish and sequel just like we have with the Tony Hawk games.

So right now, all we need are more good developers to come to work with us. We have a really solid system in place here for getting great games on the shelf each year, so it is really just a matter of finding more great people to work into our teams. Making games is really all about the people.

GS: How do you go about shipping a game every year without compromising quality?

JJ: The first thing you need to do is believe you can do it. And then, after you do it once, you really start to see the benefits. The combination of seeing your game on the shelf every Christmas, along with the money that can be made by a team that can consistently pull that off, can make for a very heightened level of motivation. As you build a team, you hire people who understand what it means to lead by example. You hire people who work hard and work focused. Then you support these people with strong leadership--people who can and are willing to make good decisions--and a production staff that understands how to organize tasks and make sure people know what they need to do each morning when they get to work. I think that at this point, if you were to compare notes on the developers who ship quality software on a timely basis, you would find that they all have a strong process in place that includes a solid tool chain, ways of organizing and keeping people on task, and rules to make sure that their games are always in a playable state. Everything is basically accounted for, all the way down to structured work hours. And they focus on making sure they are always making their process better. It's a lot of fun working on a team that knows it can make a great game for Christmas.

GS: Activision announced that you are working on a totally original title--something that is not a sports game--and even went as far as saying it would be the biggest game of next year. What can you tell us about that?

JJ: I can't let too much out of the bag just yet, but I can hit you with a bunch of descriptors: big adventure, big story, major action, period piece, a reality-based new world that players have never seen before, mature rating, adult themes, with some killing thrown in for good measure. The concept for this game was really the impetus to double the size of Neversoft. We knew we could make a killer game out of the concept, so we just had to do it. The game recently went through its green-light assessment at Activision, and everybody is really excited about it.