Decode Entertainment eyeing games market

One of Canada’s premiere web/TV convergence shops is exploring new gaming options to round out its entertainment offerings, and asking the federal government for help to the sector to finance new projects. This month, the Decode Entertainment television series Save ’Ums went to air in Canada and the U.S., and new media head and partner Dan Fill is already eyeing the series as a potential disc-based game for the PC platform. Another Decode series set to launch this fall, the CGI/live action Blobheads, could push the envelope even more, possibly as a console-based game, if Fill and his partners can find the funding. Fill is considering the two shows for further exploitation on other platforms largely because of their success in selling here and abroad, and in large part because the properties are breaking new ground for animation. Save ’Ums, in particular, is serving as a research and development project for Decode as it experiments with new software from Montreal-based MindAvenue called Axel that’s been used to create a 3D web property and online games to complement the show. “They’re fully rendered characters,” he says of the web look. “In some games you can change camera perspective right in mid-game. There’s a remote control car game and you literally see it from first person, third person, overhead perspectives. It’s really quite cool that way and it all happens in real time. You just shift cameras.” Though the process requires more work, Fill says pushing the web content will create a better user experience. “We’re always looking to do something that has a fit with the show, and the show itself is really quite cutting-edge in terms of the look of the 3D characters themselves. So, instead of pulling it down to a 2D Flash software, we felt it made more sense and would probably be a lot more interesting to users if they looked exactly like they do in the show.” He adds: “We look at it and say we’re building content that’s basically getting to a point now where it is disc-based quality, but it’s being delivered online. So, is there another window there? Can we build additional content and make it available that way? The fact that it’s all supported by fairly high-presence TV shows, we think it might stand more of a chance of survival than other pure disc-based titles. In terms of console, there is a really good opportunity there. The question is how we can finance things so that we can retain as much of the upside on it as possible, and the (intellectual property) if we can.” He says current sources of public funding for new media projects are insufficient to move down that path, though, especially with budgets for console games running in the multiple millions. While he’s exploring options in other provinces, noting the high level of organization and generous tax credits available in Montreal, for instance, Fill is also pushing the federal government to make some cash available. “If they’re looking to have cultural stories to be told on an interactive basis and reach that audience, we don’t think there’s any better way to do that than console gaming, because that’s what is doing. We’re definitely lobbying for that and strongly feel that that’s a much better investment than some of the other investments the federal government has made in new media. We’re hoping to see that sort of happen over the next little while, and would like to see how we can make the case for this sort of content that would be Canadian – culturally Canadian content that reflects stories similar to the television stories – and to create these games that are a fairly lucrative space to be in right now.” While exploring several avenues, including provincial tax credits, different partnership arrangements and co-productions, the Canadian market would likely require federal help to become established, Fill says. While much of the software used in the games industry is Canadian, he notes that firms higher in the chain have yet to be established. “It would be nice if there was a Canadian-focused publisher out there, but there’s no one on our radar. It would be nice if there was some kind of public funding out there that would replace that.”

Decode Entertainment eyeing games market

Broadcast | May 1, 2003

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