I de seneste år har det været svært at finde lyspunkter i spilindustrien. Fyringsrunderne fortsætter med at ramme både spiludviklere, skabere og medier, og det kan være nemt at miste modet. Men Phil Foxton - en brancheveteran med 30 års erfaring - mener, at der stadig er håb.
Under Barcelona Game Fest i år holdt Foxton en præsentation om "underdogs" i spilbranchen, og hvordan netop de kan være nøglen til fremtiden. "What's happening is those people that have been laid off, they are making studios that are creative powerhouses. They're able to do things that they weren't able to do at the large studios," forklarede han. "They're able to make games that we wouldn't see otherwise...We just would not see them if it was still a Microsoft, Sega, Nintendo ruled world."
"My whole point of this is, look, yes, the state of play is not that good right now, but it's getting better. There's hope and how to make that hope greater is to actually be the studio that is creating that hope," fortsatte han. "It's up to people like myself with 30 odd years of industry experience to be the one to go, hey, it's OK. Not a problem. Chill. It's going to be fine. And that's where we're at."
Foxton hjælper i dag nye udviklere med at omdanne deres små studier til succesfulde virksomheder - og han håber at se flere af disse underdogs klare sig godt. For ifølge ham er det netop dér, vi vil finde spilbranchens næste store gennembrud.
Se hele vores interview med ham nedenfor: