Irvine-based video game developer Double Helix Games had to sell out to keep its independence.
Double Helix was created when two local video game companies, Newport Beach-based The Collective Inc. and Laguna Beach’s Shiny Entertainment Studios, were bought by Irvine-based Foundation 9 Entertainment Inc.
Foundation 9 combined the two in what’s now Double Helix, which allowed the struggling companies to stay afloat, land bigger game development deals and buy better technology for making games.
“For us, the buy was a real revelation of what it means to be independent,” said Michael “Saxs” Persson, studio head for Double Helix and vice president of studios for Foundation 9. “We now have the benefit of knowing what we spend and what we make and investing responsibly in what we want to have. We haven’t had that freedom before. It’s intoxicating to go out and be in charge of your own destiny.”
As Double Helix’s top guy, Persson’s main job is “to make sure we are investing technology and that the infrastructure in the company supports top-notch development.”
He also scouts new games to work on.
“It’s a constant effort to go out and make yourself available for all the projects that are going on,” he said.
A year after the buyout, Double Helix has been spending on proprietary technologies and highly specialized tools that allow it to make more advanced games.
The company was able to buy what’s called “physics engines”,software that can simulate physical properties of things in an animated game, such as the way cloth drapes, boxes tumble or how people fall when they get shot. Other software helps design realistic-looking vehicles.
“We used to buy middleware for every game, and it’s very expensive and we had never gotten the results we wanted,” Persson said. “We could get by making games this year, but separately none of us had enough funds to go out and invest in technology and be truly competitive next year.”
Double Helix’s workers,it has 160 in OC,have a long history of making games by licensing the rights to use characters from movies and comic books.
Shiny Entertainment has done games based on movies franchises including “Star Wars,” “The Matrix,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Indiana Jones” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
Double Helix is what’s called a multiplatform developer. It does games for PCs, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation, handheld device PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox and Nintendo Co.’s Wii.
It also specializes in what’s called “day-and-date” projects, where a video game launch is synched with a movie release.
The Collective did such a launch for “Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith.”
“The difference between timing the launch and not making it on time amounts to a huge difference in sales,” Persson said. “We’ve been very good at doing it.”
Double Helix currently is working on three unannounced titles. It’s set to release “Silent Hill: Homecoming,” a gritty war game, on Halloween.
The game is published by Japan’s Konami Corp. and is meant for play on PCs, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Persson’s Rise
Persson, 37, hails from Denmark and picked up the nickname “Saxs” as a teen, when he played in video game competitions in Europe.
At Shiny, which was then owned by New York-based video game developer Atari Inc., Persson climbed the totem pole over a decade, eventually holding the post of studio head.
Atari was looking to sell Shiny and Persson ended up “packaging the company for a sale,” he said.
“I was looking to land at a place where we could actually continue and grow stronger,” he said. “We were keen to find a good home and Foundation 9 had the right idea about independent developers.”
Privately held Foundation 9 is an umbrella company for a collection of some eight studios.
In 2006, Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Francisco Partners Management LLC pledged to fund the company with up to $150 million over a few years to fuel growth and acquisitions.
Foundation 9 was created in early 2005 when Collective combined with Bay Area-based Backbone Entertainment.
The studios owned by Foundation 9 pick their projects and develop games independently. They report financials separately and have to meet certain revenue goals.
Foundation 9 handles all of the deal-making and administrative stuff, allowing the creative-types to focus on their work.
“They provide a network of people that help in the deal making, the contracts, financials, human resources and legal,” Persson said. “If we were owned by a big publisher, we wouldn’t have a lot of control. I am able to go out and work with any publisher on any kind of game. It’s very appealing.”
