Avalanche boss to devs: "Without passion you will fail"

Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg has a message to studio leaders: success comes from passion.

As part of a wide-ranging GamesIndustry International feature on studio growth, Sundberg warned of the perils of putting aspirations for money ahead of making great games.

"In terms of nurturing the studio, I'd like to encourage studio heads to not lose touch with games development, which was probably (hopefully) the reason they started their studios in the first place," Sundberg said. "I know it's easy to get detached as the budgets and projects grow, as bigger publishing partners and investors join, but without the passion for game development you will fail."

"Finally, everyone wants to make money, but I have always said that the day we start focusing on being a business rather than a game development studio, we've lost our soul and our right to exist," he added. "Passion for games is everything. If you find yourself flat broke (I've been there) and still feel motivated to create the game of your dreams, you're a winner."

Sundberg made headlines recently for saying most games today are too short and that's why they are traded in.

The latest project from Sundberg and Avalanche Studios is Mad Max, which will be released in 2014 published by Warner Bros. The car combat-focused game does not feature any multiplayer.