Riven Drama Overwrought?

Life without Robyn. That's what Broderbund's Red Orb division now faces.

Not surprisingly, a Red Orb exec who spoke with GameSpot News cast a decidedly cheery view on the news that has trickled out over the Web during the past few days - specifically, that one of Cyan's founding members has left the company to pursue other interests.

Red Orb general manager (and Broderbund VP) Ken Goldstein indicated the relationship with Cyan is solid and ongoing. With Cyan hard at work on the DVD release of Riven (and Red Orb monitoring the ever-growing installed base of DVD players so as to time the DVD release intelligently), Goldstein expressed little cause for concern. And who can blame him. After just two and a half months on the market, Riven distinguished itself as the top-selling PC title for 1997. What could possibly phase the gatekeepers counting the rising revenues generated by the successful title?

Still, it has to be a shock to the senses to hear that the central creative player in the making of your company's highest-rated product just decided to haul on out of the game-designing business to make a couple of movies.

"I have a great relationship with Rand - and with Robyn. I feel good," Goldstein said. In fact Goldstein expressed a none-too-hidden hope that Red Orb would - sometime in the future - work with Robyn's new venture Light of Point. "I don't see any loss."

"The product was created by Cyan," Goldstein stated, proffering the position that the absence of any one, two, or three contributors on the company's two marque titles shouldn't have an impact. "All I see is more creativity and more products" coming from Cyan in the future.

Characterizing the Cyan enterprise as a sort of collective rather than a multimillion dollar corporation concerned with payrolls, 401(k) plans, and the quotidian essentials usually associated with running a business, Goldstein said of the Cyan team, "Most folks are working on the project as opposed to being full-time employees."

"If the next generation of products are of interest" it is Goldstein's opinion that some of those individuals who up and left Cyan could well find their way back to the company. "A lot of folks are chilling out and resting," Goldstein said. "There's no need to have a large staff" working on the DVD release.

As to Cyan's continued relationship with Red Orb, Goldstein said, it will last "as long as they want to be with us and as long as I want to be with them." And after having the Cyan decision-makers over to Red Orb's offices last week, Goldstein seemed optimistic.

"I like long-term relationships with all my developers."