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 Mike Wilson’s divine
dream of a developer-owned publisher is now a reality. Combine one ego-drenched name, a
tossed salad of the hottest polygon spatterers in Texas, seven zeros of financing and the
resulting synergy is the Gathering of Developers. Behind the primped PR-gloss of what game
companies want you to hear, GameSlice Editor-in-Chief Geoff Keighley unearths the
undeniably fascinating tale of why this We-Are-The-World-esque concoction of developers is
a suit-driven game publisher’s worst nightmare, and a hard-core gamer’s ultimate
fantasy.
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The puns already begin flying
moments into our conversation – I wonder if Wilson has a cheat-sheet of these witty
one-liners in his back pocket. Still, it becomes increasingly obvious that Wilson felt his
time was up at id as soon as John Romero walked out the door to start his own company.
"As soon as John departed, it was a no-brainer to jump over to Ion [Storm]," he
recalls.
"I did as much as a person could do to build up a company with no games."
--Mike Wilson on Ion Storm
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At Ion Storm, he took up the shiny title of being the Chief Executive Officer of
a new upstart caught in a whirlwind of hype. As Ion signed with Eidos Interactive, Wilson
had already started planning what’s now known as the Gathering. "At the time
when we signed…I knew I’d need a year to set things up [for the
Gathering]," comments Wilson. Unfortunately, what was originally a three title deal
with Eidos turned into a deal with three additional options, two of which Wilson thought
he hammered out with the purchase of Dominion from 7th Level and Warren
Spector’s new game. 'Not so,' said Eidos, stating that those games were not in the
"spirit of their original agreement." The result was Wilson feeling locked up at
Ion. The company now had eight games to deliver to Eidos, and none would be out before
1998. Current Ion Storm CEO John Romero refutes the claim that their current deal with
Eidos is "lengthy" as I termed it, but rather refers to it as a "more like
a big deal." |
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" I did as much as a person
could do to build up a company with no games," Wilson bluntly states for the record
about Ion. "At the same time, I saw a lot of developers coming to a window of
opportunity. I saw the ability to spread the knowledge that these publishers aren’t
doing much for the developer." With the possibility presenting itself, he "had a
lengthy discussion with John and the rest of the partners at Ion. I basically said,
‘You guys know this is what I care about [the developer driven publishing].’
They said, ‘Just go do it!’ and gave me a nice package." As an interesting
aside, Wilson actually presented the g.o.d. business plan to Eidos this fall before he
left Ion, but "let’s just say it didn’t go over so well and caused
friction." Still, he packed his bags on good terms with Ion, and as John Romero says,
"[Mike’s] job was to show the world what Ion Storm is all about and who we
are."
"I saw the ability to spread the knowledge that these publishers aren’t doing
much for the developer."
--Mike Wilson |
Now, Wilson is ready to show the world what his Gathering of Developers is all
about and who they are. As 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller says, "Mike is a great idea
guy, who has that rare ability to think outside-the-box. I can’t think of too many
other people who could pull this off as well as he has." High praise coming from the
man who invented the concept of shareware, but the praise would only be beginning of the
accolades for Wilson and his concept of a developer-driven publisher. |
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