Outriders released on April 1, marking the first game from People Can Fly since it split off from Epic Games in 2015. Since then, though, it has taken over a new studio in Chicago and acquired studio Game On. In other words, it's been a busy couple of months and People Can Fly is aggressively growing is name and brand.
On all of this and more, Game Rant recently spoke with People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
GR: You've just announced the acquisition of Phosphor Games/People Can Fly Chicago Now. How long has this deal to acquire Phosphor Games been in the works?
Obviously, I cannot disclose, I will say, the kitchen of this transaction. I can only say that, as a very important distinction, we have not acquired Phosphor Games, per se. We took over the team, so it's not an acquisition. It's purely taking over the team, signing employment offers with each of the team members rather than acquisition of the entity.
GR: Was there anything that specifically attracted People Can Fly to Phosphor Games?
Sure, Phosphor Games used to work with Epic Games some time ago. So did PCF. So, we knew that those guys are talented and experienced. The most important thing for us is that we're looking for teams who are experienced with Unreal Engine technology, and Phosphor Games was. The size was right for us, the talent was there, and the location was right too. It made a lot of sense.
GR: Phosphor Games, on its website, prides itself on focusing on the “new” and “cutting edge.” Will this be something People Can Fly is looking to cultivate?
I think that, as a studio, we are trying to work on things that would be cutting edge, so that's not necessarily something ex-Phosphor has to focus on. We are trying to create new stuff and working with cutting-edge technology to come up with new solutions, new features. So, this is kind of the same thing we are doing globally.
GR: Were there any of Phosphor Games’ titles influence this decision any?
I would say not really. It's purely about that they are working in Unreal Engine technology. I would say that, in recent years, Phosphor was not working on any title that would strike our special attention. It was more about the people and the talent rather than any particular IP that they were developing that made us come to this decision.
GR: Has the success of Outriders impacted this decision any?
Obviously, Outriders' results are making this easier for us to grow, but at the same time, we went public last year in December. And, part of that was to grow and to acquire new teams and studios. That was our equity story that investors liked and decided to buy our shares and gave us capital to implement this strategy. That's why we had this kind of conversation for acquisitions or taking over of the teams with Phosphor.
Obviously, the results of Outriders make us a bit surer about our decisions. But yeah, this is just part of our strategy that we announced during our IPO Process.
GR: Are there any immediate plans for People Can Fly Chicago you can share?
People Can Fly Chicago is focusing on collaborating with our other teams on our existing games, so this is the immediate plan for them. I think this is important to always have this kind of ramp-up time to learn new workflows and pipelines and making sure that we are working together well. It’s also about production flow strategies and tools. So, each team needs this time at the very beginning, and then we will see what the future holds.
GR: Will they be assisting with Outriders content in any way?
We are not necessarily communicating more about what this team is particularly working on. I can only say right now that our European studios are working on Project Gemini with Square Enix and our North American studios are working on Project Dagger with Take-Two Interactive. So, this is the kind of division right now. Going forward, that might change in terms of what the Chicago Team will be working on.
Is People Can Fly Looking to grow the Chicago studio?
For sure, our goal is to strengthen this studio in Chicago. Right now, it’s 18 people. Phosphor used to be much bigger, and that's our benchmark. We want to grow the team and take advantage of the talent pool that is in Chicago. So, this is just the beginning for this studio.
GR: You mentioned the talent pool. One of Phosphor Games' biggest titles was Brookhaven Experiment, a big VR shooter. Is this something that People Can Fly is going to be investing in with this studio, either the IP or the VR tech behind it?
VR is not something in our plans. I think VR is more about demos so far than real business, at least this is my point of view. That said, porting existing games to the VR platforms is something worth contemplating. We are going to work, and I am not talking about People Can Fly Chicago only, but People Can Fly in general, on AAA games for PC and consoles that would be shooter and action game genres. So, this is what we are really looking for in each thing. We are going to focus on this going forward.
GR: With the announcement of Phosphor Games Becoming People Can Fly Chicago, CEO Justin Corcoran mentioned that the studio's goal is to “strengthen PCF’s presence in the US and help build People Can Fly as a global brand.” Can you talk about those goals any further?
Our goals, as I said, are working on AAA games, shooters, and action game genres in Unreal Engine technology. Our business model is working with publishers, but we are also, going forward, looking to work on our own IPs and becoming a publisher. So, we want to blend the model of working with publishers with working on our own games in a self-publishing model. That's a global goal for People Can Fly.
GR: With this in mind, I know this would be studio #7. Where do you see People Can Fly in 5 or 10 years broadly speaking?
I think the sky is the limit to be honest. Everything depends on how successful our strategy is going to be. We want to grow further, not necessarily opening very small studios, but each of the studios we own especially in North America, is set for further growth. We have New York. We've got Chicago. We've got Montreal. Our goal is to grow them organically and not only organically. If there a are business opportunities, we will try to take them.
GR: You mentioned this earlier, but I was curious, with PCF Chicago [coming in] as a collaborative effort on this, how much anatomy will People Can Fly Chicago still have?
Let's be honest, in a AAA world, if you have 18 members of the team, it's very hard to create a AAA experience. So, we need to grow much further to even start working on a game that will belong to one studio. Basically, our experience is more about collaboration between different studios, and one day, who knows, if People Can Fly Chicago will grow to 100 people, that might be a possibility. But right now, it's going to be just that. We have mainly mid-sized studios, except for Warsaw that is really, really big. Other cities are pretty much between 20 to 40 people. So, this is not the size that would enable us to make a game with just one studio.
With that perspective, we are trying to give everybody as much creative freedom as possible, but within certain games and within certain creative vision of creative directors.
GR: For Game On, per the announcement on your website, People Can Fly is not making any exclusivity claims. How does this acquisition then impact your relationship, if at all, with the studio?
We’ve been long-term partners with Game On and now we will cooperate even closer; also, as a member of our group, Game On will get access to resources and capital. We will do our best to support the studio’s further development. But Game On remains independent and will continue to work with other clients from the gaming industry.
GR: Game On has previously done work on titles such as Marvel’s Avengers, The Outer Worlds, and of course, Outriders. What was it like working with the studio on Outriders?
Working with Sam Girardin and his team was a great experience for People Can Fly, and their input into Outriders was really significant. Actually, the level of cooperation with Game On was, for me, one of the main reasons behind this acquisition.
GR: Will Game On be working more loosely with your Montreal studio as a result of this acquisition?
What I can say at this point is that this move is somehow “attached” to our expansion plans in Canada, but we are not revealing any details yet.
GR: With Game On focused on motion capture services, audio production, and animation, what does Game On to People Can Fly?
Game On adds exactly this expertise to PCF: motion capture, animation, and audio. That’s very valuable for us considering the variety of projects we run at People Can Fly. Game On is also an amazing group of creative professionals that know the gaming industry inside out. I’m also happy that Sam Girardin is joining PCF’s leadership team. His experience will surely contribute to the company’s further growth.
GR: With recent dealings, People Can Fly Chicago and Game On, being based in North America, what can you say about you plans for the region? Perhaps in comparison to plans in Europe?
We definitely want to grow in North America, that feels pretty natural, but we want to keep the right balance at the same time. The majority of our team is still located in Europe, with our Warsaw headquarters being around 200 people right now.
GR: Is there anything I may not have mentioned you would like to say about Game On?
We are very excited about this acquisition and super happy that People Can Fly’s Brand attracts partners like Game On and becomes more and more global – that’s exactly where we want to be.
GR: You mentioned that the European studios work together, and the American studios collaborate. Is there anything you can tell us there?
It is in a public domain. Project Dagger is our action game. It's collaborated on with Take-Two Interactive.
Gemini is another project with Square Enix, and we are working on it from our Warsaw Studio. But all the other European studios are involved .
GR: So obviously, those are future goals of People Can Fly, but where do you see these projects in term of helping People Can Fly hit that global brand recognition?
I think this is what's happening, right? With Outriders, our first game after becoming independent from Epic in 2015, and I think this game put us back on the map. Not only for the games industry, but from the perspective of the community. I think we are back on the map, and hopefully this will be something that will last for much, much longer. With our new productions, new games, we will be even more visible in the coming years.
GR: So, we've got these two future projects that People Can Fly is working on. What about older IP like Bulletstorm?
As you can imagine, this IP, we hold very near to our hearts. We have tried from time to time to think about it, what would be possible. We've remastered the game and put it on new platforms like Switch, so we are still kind of trying to do something with this IP. There are no immediate plans right now. We hope that one day, we'll be able to come back to this IP, who knows what the future holds. Definitely, with growing bigger and getting new teams on board, it will be easier to come back one day to this IP.
GR: So, for Outriders fans or People Can Fly fans in general, is there you'd like to tell our audience about what's next?
I hope that they enjoyed Outriders. We've had some ups and downs, but I hope they enjoyed the game itself. Definitely, I would like them to look forward to some new stuff that we are currently working on. And without spoiling anything, there will be more to come in the near future. Look forward to what we are cooking at People Can Fly.
GR: With Square Enix and Take-Two both at E3 2021, does People Can Fly have any plans for the showcase?
For now we have nothing specific to announce around E3.
[End.]
Outriders is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.