It has now been seven months since John Smedley shut down Pixelmage Games and took his team over to Amazon Game Studios to set up shop in San Diego. We’ve been greatly curious about what game he’s been heading — and if it is an MMO — but until recently Smed has stayed out of the spotlight to get work done.
This is why we’ve perked up to see him sit down with VentureBeat for an extended interview about his new employer and his take on the direction that the industry is heading. He has a lot of opinions on just about everything, ranging from virtual reality to Twitch integration to the rise of e-sports.
If you’re hoping that the notoriously chatty Smedley was going to reveal what game his studio is making, you’re in for disappointment. He indicates that he’s very excited about the project but is tight-lipped about specifics.
“One cool thing about the culture here is there’s a big emphasis on playing games all the time, our internal games,” Smedley said. “I get to give feedback on the playtests we have for Breakaway. That’s being done at the Irvine studio, and we have stuff going on up in Seattle, and then we have our stuff. We’re not quite ready to talk about it yet, but it’s a lot of fun to be able to start new things and go in different directions […] I can’t talk much about the games we’re making, but we’re focused on getting that community started early, getting the games in front of customers.”
