Jonathan Ross: Game industry has inferiority complex

The game industry has an inferiority complex when it comes to other forms of entertainment, Jonathan Ross has said.

Speaking in an upcoming interview in the next issue of Develop, the TV presenter and head of new studio HotSauce Interactive said that the game industry seemed to be seeking respect from the film industry when perhaps it doesn’t need to.

Comparing the game industry to TV, he said a number of TV execs didn’t really understand games yet despite its potential opportunities, and would often invest in heavily publicised apps and internet business, citing ITV’s buyout of Friends Reuninted as an example, rather than investing in ideas and people early on, something Ross said he is trying to do with HotSauce.

"Those people tend to look around and wonder what they can buy, and nine times out of ten it’s the wrong thing, they reach for the thing that’s had the publicity, and it’s much more exciting to invest in ideas and people early, rather than try and buy them late, and I think that’s the problem TV has. And it isn’t necessarily an industry that runs in tandem with games," said Ross about the crossover between TV and games.

“They are very different disciplines with very different end products. And I’m surprised that the gaming industry, from my point of view, seems to have an inferiority complex when it comes to other forms of entertainment

“To me the game industry seems to be saying to the film industry ‘give us some respect’. As with in any relationship, if you’re the one saying ‘love me, love me, love me’, you don’t get loved.”

Jonathan Ross’s new studio HotSauce Interactive is based in Camden, North London, and is part of his production company HotSauce.

The studio is staffed by a number of experienced developers including ex-Lionhead audio producer George Backer who helped form the company.

The developer has already released its first title for iOS called Catcha Catcha Aliens, but Ross said he would also be interested in taking on console with a triple-A title should he ever find the funding for such an endeavour.

“This is something we would need funding for, but I would love us to make a really big world building game that would be our Halo,” he said.

“Something that would be our Fable or our Black Ops. Something with a really big team where we make something which, from nothing, came this game. And I’ve got a good idea for it, I think, which I was going to do as a comic book for the year after next. I really think it might work as a game. I suppose I shouldn’t say more, but yes, I am very serious about it.”

You can read the full interview in the upcoming issue of Develop magazine which is out next week.