Terminal Reality Takes Stake in g.o.d.

Under the guise of Microsoft's publishing machine, Dallas, Texas-based developer Terminal Reality is a company many gamers know as making titles like Fury3, Hellbender, Monster Truck Madness, and CART Precision Racing. But it was never known well outside insider gaming circles or by those who don't truly understood the gaming business. On Wednesday, Terminal Reality announced that it would be taking a position as an equity partner in the newly formed Gathering of Developers.

Part of the deal will move Terminal Reality Vice President Brett Combs to a seat at g.o.d.'s board of directors.

"We are proud to be a founding partner of Gathering of Developers because we believe in the philosophy that game developers should have more control over the creation, marketing, and distribution of the games they design and should receive a bigger stake of the profits generated from the sales of their titles," said Mark Randel, president, co-founder, and lead developer at Terminal Reality. "We also believe that the combined reputations of the Gathering of Developers partners will ensure that our titles receive premium channel distribution that's on par with other major distributors."

"Terminal Reality has created a winning streak of great games, and their focus on simulations will diversify our upcoming product offerings," said Mike Wilson, chief executive officer of Gathering of Developers. "Mark Randel's techno wizardry and Brett Combs' business expertise make Terminal Reality a valuable asset and partner, and we welcome Brett to our board of directors."

GameSpot News caught up with Jeff Smith, PR front man for Terminal Reality, to ask him a couple of things about what this new deal will mean to the company considering that the business model is much different from the standard-fare developer/publisher relationship. When Smith was asked when TRI would have a title out from g.o.d., he didn't give any details about what type of game it would be, but said it would be released sometime in 1998.

Considering the ambitious goal of having companies work with other developers' technologies under the g.o.d. umbrella seems a bit odd considering the competition that normally goes on in the gaming market. Since TRI is such a technology-laden company, what other developers would the company like to work with? Smith said straight out that each developer has a proven track record, and TRI would be happy to work with any of the other companies. Currently, he said that one possible fit would be with developing first-person 3D titles in alliance with 3D Realms (who originally published the company's first title Terminal Velocity) or Ritual Entertainment. TRI is developing a first-person game engine called Kage that looks great so far, and more details about the game (including some screenshots) are available on the company's web site. Yet Smith added that there is so much talent with all the developers, almost anything is possible, and the profit margins for the developers are far better than traditional publishing.

What about TRI breaking its publishing union with Microsoft? Smith stated that Microsoft doesn't own any part of Terminal Reality or its technology, so the break isn't too severe. How did Microsoft take the news? Smith said that although Microsoft was surprised, the parting was a peaceful one. Microsoft has kept TRI going for many years. One title is still being developed for Microsoft.