Fortis Video games – Twilight Towers and Beyond

Hello Friends —

We meet as soon as once more.

It’s been a while since I final checked in. Partly as a result of the PR crew mentioned we have now established “sufficient brand identity” and partly as a result of I’m a secretive creature by nature. But alas, the time for the shadowed caves is behind us. Fortis begins to emerge into the mild. In the upcoming months we’ll start tender launching video games and seeing what magic might come from them; The first, Twilight Towers, which is able to tender launch subsequent week in Philippines and Mexico, is just the start.

Twilight Towers got here to us by an atypical path. Most of Fortis’s video games are being developed from scratch, however Twilight Towers is constructed on the muse of an acquisition we made final yr. We hope the work we have put into the sport improves upon the nice gameplay that got here earlier than and the gamers take roost and assist us develop it right into a profitable product. Early days, however we’re excited.

While I’m right here, allow me a tangent. A minor meander. There’s extra to be mentioned as regards to the place our trade is at. It’s additionally a superb alternative to transcend the phrase allotment these tyrants operating PR tried to impose upon me. 500 phrases?! Barely a psychological morsel. We deal in thought banquets right here MARCUS.

[Note from MARCUS: This is why I asked Shawn to write a blog, and not a 280-character tweet. You can continue now Shawn…]

Acquisitions, Hires, and Publishing. Oh My.

Fortis made a couple of acquisitions early on. Those acquisitions gave us a set of groups that had constructed profitable video games collectively earlier than, had robust leaders, and put us in a spot to recruit in geographies we wished to be current in.

Since these acquisitions, we have constructed nice groups in locations like Brazil, Romania, Portugal, the UK, Canada and different areas. Embracing world expertise was all the time a significant hallmark of our technique and we proceed to imagine in that strategy.

The market has shifted these previous few years. There are nice video games and groups that fall by the wayside as a consequence of little greater than dangerous luck, timing, or a scarcity of entry. When the capital was plentiful (and considerably indiscriminate) there have been fewer examples of this, however issues are completely different now. The firehose of cash aimed toward content material has slowed to a trickle and it has created an unlimited hole available in the market. A variety of capital — person acquisition funds, enterprise capitalists, Kickstarters, and many others. — is an effective factor for the trade however these capital sources are likely to underestimate the problem of constructing a sport and publishing operation, which leaves many video games stranded on the cusp of launch with no clear path ahead.

So we have expanded our strategy, going past these early sport crew acquisitions, taking a broader have a look at alternatives.

Over the final yr Fortis has been quietly constructing the capabilities to fill an trade hole, and provides these video games and groups, with excessive potential however in a precarious place, an opportunity to thrive. That takes a couple of kinds: (1) establishing third-party publishing, (2) buying groups/video games we see promise in however are caught, (3) batch hiring nice groups that got here shut and need to take one other shot.

We’ve been doing all three whereas persevering with to construct our inner portfolio up. If you and your crew feels prefer it’s falling into that hole I described above, do not be a stranger; go to us at LinkedIn and we will see if there is a match. If you’ve got been displaced by the latest studio closures, we even have a variety of positions open right here.

Onward and Upward.

I’m excited that Twilight Towers is in our portfolio, simply as I’m excited for the half dozen different video games we’re constructing to observe it. These video games are numerous of their style and supposed viewers, however they’re all experiences we imagine gamers will love and construct neighborhood round.

Fortis has gone by any variety of evolutions as we put collectively our video games, however one factor has remained constant: We need to construct video games the place individuals belong.

Building new, unique video games is not for the faint of coronary heart. It’s an underdeveloped self-discipline atrophying as giant corporations give attention to their core franchises and minimize new growth whereas different sources of funding shift away from content material. While I’m all for picks and shovels, somebody must be mining for gold.

We’re going to maintain at it. We’re certain there’s gold in them thar hills and we’re excited to share it with you. Be looking out for extra releases. Things are brewing, and there is extra to come back.