Friday, June 27, 2014
By: Matthew Doucette
Greater Halifax has featured Xona Games.
Greater Halifax has run a feature on us!
They picked up on some recent news, where we were featured in the Yarmouth Vanguard, Official Xbox Magazine, and Connected for Business, as well we became official Xbox One developers and won the $50,000 Tizen App Challenge and $20,000 Rogers Big Idea Contest and were later interviewed by Rogers.
A lot has happened, and it makes me realize it when I blog it. Internally, a lot more is happening! Just wait!
Here's the article (links included):
Nova Scotia’s Xona Games is ready to move to the next generation
Jun 27, 2014
It's not easy to break into the international gaming market, but Yarmouth's Xona Games, founded by brothers Matthew and Jason Doucette, has done it with some of its popular indie games, which are making their way to as far as Japan, reported The Yarmouth County Vanguard.
After establishing Xona Games around the world on more traditional gaming consoles such as the XBox 360, the brothers are ready to move their titles and efforts to the next generation of systems.
Building on past success
With many notable accomplishments already under its belt such as awards and cash prizes from the Tizen App Challenge and the Rogers Small Business Big Ideas contest, Xona Games is hoping to capitalize on the momentum and the advantages the new XBox One and Playstation 4 give independent developers, stated The Yarmouth County Vanguard.
Some of the company's indie games already held coveted spots on top-rated and bestselling lists for the genre in Japan, as well as three of its titles making it to the top five indie games list at the same time in the country. However, this small business in Canada is hoping to get its name out there even further.
Technology is an integral part of how Xona Games operates, allowing them to not just create their games but also disperse them, according to Redboard Biz.
New gaming systems such as the XBox One allows independent developers, not just the large established companies, to use the same advanced tools to develop more sophisticated games of higher quality. Not only that, but independent games are no longer tied down to their own small section on the console, far away from the public eye. They are promoted in the same main area as the big name games on the XBox One, stated The Yarmouth County Vanguard.
All of these changes give Matthew and Jason Doucette hope that the move to these consoles will expose their company to even more people and increase sales.
However, developers can only gain these benefits once they officially become recognized as a developer for the system, which is presently more difficult than the older systems. But thanks to its past success, Xona Games is now a formal developer for the XBox One.
A future industry for Nova Scotia
Xona Games already has remotes offices and publishers scattered all around the planet, stated Redboard Biz. However, Matthew Doucette is hoping to spark interest in the industry at home in Nova Scotia.
Doucette understands the difficulty of getting into a video game career from experiences he had when he was younger and often discouraged from doing so, according to The Yarmouth County Vanguard. Now, he's taking a co-op student under his wing from Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School to offer guidance for future aspirations.
"I wish I had someone when I was younger that knew what they were talking about, computer and development wise," he told the source.
The student, Graham Rogers, will learn how to code and make games during his training, leading to the eventual creation of his own game. But that's not the main goal Doucette is hoping to achieve.
"I'll see this as a success if he answers the question of if he wants to do this or not," he said.
Throughout his career as a video game developer, Doucette says no one has ever asked him about grades, only past experiences. Doucette and his company, Xona Games, are working to put the province on the map in an increasingly popular worldwide market. Not only is he looking to further establish himself, but he's trying to lay the foundation for the future developers of the industry in Nova Scotia.
Halifax business news brought to you by the Greater Halifax Partnership, the lead economic development organization for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
http://www.greaterhalifax.com/
Here's the original article: http://www.greaterhalifax.com/en/home/halifax-nova-scotia/industry-news/business-news/post.aspx/nova-scotias-xona-games-is-ready-to-move-to-the-next-generation/feed/
That is all!
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.