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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisLooking forward to next week and speaking at GamesBeat NEXT 2026 on November 2-3, 2026 in San Francisco. Always the most fun of events, so many brilliant people attending and speaking, it'll be a full couple of days. Still on the fence, save 25% on registration with code GBNEXT26_SPEAKER_25. Look forward to seeing everyone there!
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisAnother one from the VHS archives that came back with me from England this summer. All this talk about transmedia and movies and TV shows . . .what about collaboration with . . BIG PHARMA? Back in 1993 when we were working on Microcosm we ended up doing one of the most bizarre demos ever. The drug company Pfizer wanted an interactive demonstration for their new drug so they paid us to make one out of the game. See logo (& Roerig) at 4:42. https://lnkd.in/gd87Rqic I seriously cannot remember how this came about, but the basic premise was an interactive way to show off their new cancer drug to buyers . . .so in essence in the game you play the Pfizer drug shooting down nasty cancerous cells. Other than the addition of the logos and making it self contained I don't think we did anything that wasn't already in the game. Certainly one of the more peculiar tie-ins I've ever seen . . . .
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisBack when I ran development at Philips Media in 1995 I formed a new development studio in Chester called "Curved Logic". It was founded around two brilliant gentlemen, Mike Singleton (of Maelstrom / Lords of Midnight / Midwinter fame) and David Worrall who had run the Advanced Technology Group at Psygnosis. This very early video was sent to Sony Interactive Entertainment to get developer approval status for the studio. The three concepts we had in development were Jest (primarily aimed at the N64 but a PS version was likely), Submariner (PC/PSX) and Warlord (PC/PSX) a strategy combat game. All three concepts touched on the limitations of the technology of the day. Jest was in development prior to any inkling of Mario 64 and very similar in terms of goals. The Jester would wander through different levels wearing different outfits for different themes (gangster / circus / snowman/ etc). Submariner was a full 3D underwater action strategy game, underwater always played well with technology at the time because of natural draw distance occlusion! Warlord was a really interesting concept to take Lords of Midnight to the next level with the strategic nature of the original combined with massive scale battles. Course in 1995 on a PlayStation you couldn't do massive battles, so the concept we had was real time rendered characters around you while playing a huge battle sequence as a pre-rendered video on a plane behind. The video gets the gist but not quite the grandeur! Sadly none of these games saw the light of day. When Philips decided to pass on re-entering the console space with the 3DO M2 chipset it also decided to leave games entirely. Semi-conductors were much more profitable. We sold the group to Infogrames who kept Curved Logic going for a while, Jest and Submariner were very playable, but in the end as things tightened on them they shut the studio to focus on their core IP. Sounds familiar. https://lnkd.in/gtQUNNcG
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisLooking forward to sharing the space with a group of people I admire greatly! See you in San Francisco… I hope!Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisNew session announced — Exclusively at GamesBeat NEXT 2026 Game development economics have changed. Budgets are shrinking, teams are getting leaner, and #AI is reshaping what small teams can accomplish. But doing more with less isn't a production strategy. This panel explores how studios are rethinking team structures, scope, funding, #outsourcing, and technology to build more #sustainable production models. The question isn't just how to cut costs. It's how to build games for long-term success. Speaker Lineup: Rich Vogel, Veteran Game Developer Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF, Director, BLUE MOON PRODUCTION COMPANY Jen MacLean, CEO, Dragon Snacks Games Benjamin Carcich, Principal and Co-founder, Valarin Moderated by Tim Morten, Co-founder and CEO, Frost Giant Studios, Inc. Where the biggest deals close for 2027. The biggest deals don't close in email threads. They start with getting the right leaders in the same room. Meet the CEOs, founders, investors, and decision-makers who can move your business forward. 14 days. 50 tickets remain. Be in the room → https://lnkd.in/gn2TrurF
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisA little piece I penned today on why we don't need Gen 10 consoles, why the technology curve and price curve has peaked, and why it's beneficial to creators across the globe to have a fixed technology for the foreseeable future. Constraints are a GOOD thing. Let's focus on creativity, with AI accelerating every day that's the only thing that will set you apart. https://lnkd.in/g7EPV_tsRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisBetween power and cost consoles have peaked. The race is run, the winners are in the paddock. The market and the developer has spoken, we have all we need, let us focus on the creative. A little piece on why we don't need Gen 10.
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reposted thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reposted thisWe asked Joe Brammer, CEO of BULKHEAD for a quote on building WARDOGS on Pragma. He gave us this. Not much to add, really. BULKHEAD shipped WARDOGS on Pragma rather than building their own backend. If you’re weighing up the same, happy to talk,
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisIn the midst of writing my memoirs at the moment (yes really!), it's been really rewarding to dig back into my brain and the depths of the internet to corroborate dates, times, numbers and put everything straight. I guess its not unusual to find that I have a much better recollection of my formative years in the industry in the late 80's and early 90's than more recent times, something about the way the brain works ensures that truly gets imprinted with those life changing events. But in writing things down its also been fascinating to see how history repeats itself in cycles, how the games industry evolved, exploded, retracted, how there were repeating periods of time where things like licensed IP dominated and then original IP fought back. One of the most interesting things I came across was this chart of the early explosion of games as a medium, in arcades across America. One of my most vivid memories of visiting Florida in the early 80's wasn't going to Disney World or Sea World, it was the vending section around the pool at the motel where you could grab a Mountain Dew (dear lord WHY!??!? IT'S GREEN!!!) or a Dr Pepper and Root Beer (is this to clean the floor with or to drink?). More importantly, there was a Ms Pac Man cabinet and a line to play it. I begged, borrowed (and maybe liberated from the motel room dresser) quarters and spent as much time as I could on that thing. It was a craze. PacMan in the 1980's spawned not just millions of players but a truly fantastic chart topping song (PacMan Fever, and yes I kid) and a animated cartoon that hit 20m viewers and was the highest watched cartoon of the time. For about two years. See for me the noticeable thing about this chart isn't PacMan but OutRun and Double Dragon in 1986 and 1987. The revenue associated shows the maturing of an hobby from widespread phenomenon to a more mature business. Gaming got more sophisticated, became more skill driven and but in doing so it became more specialized with a lower TAM. Which is why I always say the hardcore video game market has a ceiling that's not really moved for twenty years, around 200m-300m players (Gen 7 consoles hit around 273m). It's not visual fidelity that prevents mass adoption (we thought that once), it's 16 button controllers and complexity. With the mature market people filter in the bottom and out the top, that's about where we are. Mobile has shown billions will play games, but expecting any level of mass growth in the hardcore market now is unlikely. Friday food for thought.
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisOK, so this was difficult to say the least. There are quite a few ways to go about this list, I had a version that was games that inspired me, but I didn't think that really shaped me. What shaped me was games I worked on and teams that I helped drive and helped drive me to do better things and learn new ways. 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟰) - the exception here ; Elite by Ian Bell and David Braben I obviously had absolutely nothing to do with, but it was the game that made me say "this is what I want to do with my life." It showed me building entire Worlds in a 32k micro computer was feasible and ran my imagination wild. 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮 𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝘆𝗽𝘀𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟳) - A playtesting in London led to myself and a friend doing a port of it to the BBC Micro. In essence the start of my career. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟮) - Two teenage brothers submitted this to us at Domark as a demo on an Amstrad cassette, then on an Atari ST disc. It's sold upwards of 35 million copies over 34 years since. 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗼𝘀𝗺 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯) - My first internal team at Psygnosis worked insane hours to launch one the first true CD-Rom games for the FM-Towns Marty. Interactive movies streamed from a 150k/s CD drive. It was the future! 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗿 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟳) - Actually no, real time 3D was the future and I-War (as known in Europe) was Particle Systems doing insanely amazing things with a tight knit team. Amazing game. 𝗠𝗲��𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟴) - My first project after moving to the US to work for MicroProse was FASA Interactive's incredible RTS. Still one of my favorites today, Jordan Weisman and Denny Thorley, Mitch Gitelman and team built a classic. 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟲) - Pinning down a favorite from THQ was hard, but working with the team at Ironlore and getting out such a beloved classic game was often a fight against "the man", it taught me a lot in so many ways (and even more in trying to get console versions and sequels done). 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘀 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭) - So technically I had nothing to do with this game, that was all Deck Nine Games. But the tech behind the games creation derived from software we developed for an entirely different game together a few years earlier. To see the iteration and evolution of it arrive in such a perfect package and see that vision realized was gold to me. 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯) - There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears in that game from so many people, and building during COVID was a challenge beyond all. Airship Syndicate created an absolutely beautiful game, it grew from something small into something that could have been a contender. It's a shame it wasn't, I'm still immensely proud of the team that built it and in its pivoted form is probably a better game now than ever.
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF shared thisNovember 10th, otherwise known as the day Simon Pulman's work rate drops sharply. Sports Interactive (SI) keep releasing this incredible product (almost) year after year and it's still the pinnacle of sports management games. Professional managers use it, scouts use it, players flock to it and this year's version looks to be the best yet. So here's a little story. Football Manager started life as Championship Manager, and to be exact a game written in basic by Paul and Oliver Collyer on the Amstrad CPC464. My memory is distant, but I believe it was late in 1990 that this cassette landed in our "demo" bin at Domark's offices in Putney. Myself and a chap who worked for me, Steve Lee, played it. A lot. It was crazy, it was just a football management game! How could it be so . . well "just one more game." But it was pretty rudimentary so we sent back a note saying "this is awesome, keep working on it." A few months later an Atari ST disc arrived with an updated version. Still in basic, it was further along but retained this insane addictive quality. Martin Defries and Kris Hall became addicts and champions for it (Martin would sell an awful lot of them, Kris would produce a few versions!). Indeed everyone in the office was playing it and John Kavanagh went out to meet with the brothers and figure out how we made this into something of true commercial quality. One concept was we just took the design internally and did it ourselves at Domark. Paul and Oliver turned that down, this was their project and they weren't giving it up to anyone. So JK brought John Jones-Steele onboard, a programmer who had done many a game in his day (and contributed to our 'Nam 1965-1975 strategy game), and the internal Kremlin team at Domark helped on the art and sound side. 1992 the first iteration of Championship Manager released upon an unsuspecting World for PC, Amiga and Atari ST. It was a huge hit. Data discs, sequels, add-ons followed. Now 34 years later the latest incarnation is due to release . . . and no doubt STILL has that "just one more match" quality to it. Cannot wait. Also looking forward to the data disc where you are challenged to bring Man City back from non-league to the Premiership. 👀
Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF commented on a post
21h
An honor for you both … 😂
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Benjamin - I think BioWare was being shuttered regardless. I don’t believe there was ever an either/or scenario here.
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisThe real gamble in gaming is surviving to make the next game. Gaming investment in 2026: why smaller teams, smarter funding and planning beyond the first release matter when building a studio that can survive. https://lnkd.in/emAwwn7mThe real gamble in gaming is surviving to make the next gameThe real gamble in gaming is surviving to make the next game
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisI’m excited to announce that I am taking over the role of Studio Head at SMG Studio. For 18 years I’ve been building games with an amazing group of people. From our Flash game origins through to BAFTA and DICE winning LEGO Party! It's work that has filled me with huge pride. I wouldn't be writing this without Ashley Ringrose, SMG founder who is taking well earned retirement, you've been a friend, peer and mentor over the years, and one of the smartest, most good hearted people I know. Thank you for everything we've built together. I’ll miss you. And to the team at SMG let’s keep kicking ass, having fun, making fun. I am constantly amazed at the over stacked talent we have, so I am really excited about what this next chapter brings. Also Read Ash’s post here https://lnkd.in/p/gaG9yqZM
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisThe last week has been something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and somehow after several years of lead writer on a brilliant game, 26th most wishlisted of the year and set to hit EA early next year, just a few weeks from now, with feature lock in quite literally less than a month for that, everything has ground to a halt and the liquidators called in - so our bosses at Raw Power Games, our cohort on Chronicles Medieval, are now in a race against the clock to find alternatives to stay alive... It’s inconceivable to me that four years of everyone’s incredible work could fail to see the light of day by a few weeks… it’s bananas. However it goes, it’s been one of the best experiences and I’ve made friends for life, but man, I feel like the black knight right now, tis but a flesh wound…
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisCats & Soup: Magic Recipe Turns Six Months 🐱✨ Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe, NEOWIZ’s casual merge game, marks six months since its global launch on April 28. To celebrate, we’re kicking off the Spirit Festival. In this half-anniversary event, spirits and cats come together to welcome Tina, Queen of the Spirits, as she awakens from a long slumber. The festival brings two limited-edition twin cats, Shine Curl and Bloom Curl, along with festival-themed content, a special event shop, and plenty of rewards. 🎁 Redeem coupon code MAGICHALFYR by December 10 for in-game rewards, including the Forest Fairy Deer friend. Thank you to every player who has been with us over the past six months. We hope you enjoy the festival! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gfkH_dfQ #NEOWIZ #CatsAndSoup #MagicRecipe #MobileGames
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisIt’s again the time of the year to meet friends in Kosice for our annual get-together at our event Game Days and talk about making games, discuss ideas, share food and drinks. In a great company.And most importantly, have some quality time together. Back2back meetings are strictly forbidden, but hopefully the weather will be kind enough to let us try cold swimming with the ducks in the sun… https://gamedays.sk
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF liked thisCurious about working with licensed IP in games? Then I have the event for you. In a few weeks I'll be joining the wonderful Max Deane (Futurlab), Max Beckett-Ward (Outright Games), Anthony James Grand-Scrutton (Dlala) and Jon Gillard (Gillard Consultancy) to tackle this super interesting topic. When does working with a licensed IP make sense? How are these deals structured from a financial POV? What hot coals might IP owners drag you through on approvals? And a lot more. Tickets are still available (I think!) - link in the comments below.
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Richard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisRichard Browne 🔜 GamesBeat Next SF reacted on thisEverybody, my friends, thank you for 4 years of ASGC Always Supporting the Games Community began in November 2022 as Amir Satvat's Games Community, a one-person effort born from my lifelong dream of showing the worldwide games community how much I love and appreciate them. I thought the best way to say thank you was through action: resources, conversations, and simply being there. My dream? Help 100 people find work, and have 1 in 10 members say ASGC made a meaningful difference in their lives. Look what we've built together: The largest support community in video games 700K+ monthly active users across ASGC 7M+ lifetime viewers of our content 5,400+ job placements 6 in 10 polled members say ASGC significantly helped them Tens of thousands of member messages answered 110,000+ coaching chats and reviews 158,224 LinkedIn followers (#1 LI games content creator) LinkedIn Games Top Voice since 2023 21,631 Discord members (#1 games career Discord) 20,487 ASGC LinkedIn followers 15,000 unique weekly users of our jobs workbook alone 60+ free community resources 10,000+ job seekers supported per annual workbook refresh 150+ support posts for games organizations facing layoffs Hundreds of hour-long conversations with laid-off teams 482 Amir Likes Me job-seeker boosts 2,172 coaches with 98%+ lifetime retention 5,124 event passes across 78 events from 119 donors 8 official event partners 1,065 donated LinkedIn Premium trials from 120 donors $25,000 from ASGC Angels to keep resources free $30,000 raised for charity 10,000+ lifetime community contributors 35 Discord moderators 45 website, library, and creator partners 10 Discord Friend communities and 25 Community Night speakers 3 community partners 44 press organizations covering us 40+ event speaking opportunities, including 4 keynotes 8 college talks and 6 volunteer, judging, advisory roles 1 awesome MINTROCKET team that helped Desirée Rincón bring their world to life 10 awards recognizing ASGC's work 1 amazing plushie And above all, every one of you who has believed in me and our industry. I will enjoy this milestone for 10 minutes. Even now, all I can think of is how much pain remains and how much more there is to do. I have no magic solutions. To anyone still struggling who feels ASGC hasn't been able to help enough, I'm sorry. I will keep trying. After my family and my day job, I will devote my entire life to the reason ASGC began: showing games people how much I love them. As we enter year 5, our team will keep doing all we do. And with ASGC Heroes, we'll increasingly shine a light on the many others doing good in games. ASGC cannot solve these problems alone. We need everybody doing more. I hope we inspire you to act on something you believe in. If you love video games, show the people who create these miraculous things, my favorite things in the world, how much you love them, too. Thank you for four incredible years. The best is yet to come. I will always believe in all of you.
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