Shadowrun Returns: Why a Gaming Legend Ditched Microsoft for Indie Freedom
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Almost as intricate as the Shadowrun backstory is the tale of the rights to games based on it. Originally owned by Weisman's board game company FASA, it passed to video game spin-off FASA Interactive, before ending up at Microsoft when the software giant's gaming arm bought it in 1999 (Weisman stayed on with the company until 2002). That's where it stayed, even after FASA was shut down in 2007 after releasing an Xbox Shadowrun first person shooter to mixed reviews.
Gitelman stayed on with Microsoft afterwards, but soon became frustrated. Just last week, we saw how RedLynx studio's move to Ubisoft had helped it concentrate on perfecting its trials riding games, but for Gitelman, it was a very different experience.
(There's a saying at Microsoft, '˜Up or out.' You're either pushing to get to the next level or you're perceived as just treading water. But the higher I got in my Microsoft career, the more distance there was between me and the games. I spent most of my time dealing with executives and cross-departmental leaders while managing great people who were doing really cool work. The next step up for me was nothing like the career I was interested in or why I got into games in the first place.)
So in 2011 he left, and ended up working with Bungie, the creators of Halo - where Weisman was working on an iPad game, Crimson: Steam Pirates, a turn-based game pitching your fleet against the Caribbean's most blood thirsty swashbucklers.
(He showed me his three-slide concept deck on a Friday and we started work on Monday.) Harebrained Schemes was born.
(Developing Crimson was everything I wanted after leaving Microsoft hands-on design and management, a small team of quality-focused ass-kickers, a game idea that I loved, and a creative and business-savvy partner I could trust and work with intuitively. I'm back to making games, not talking about making games.)
The game was a hit: Metacritic.com voted it best iOS game of 2011, and off the back of, the idea for Shadowrun Returns emerged - and through Weisman's Smith & Tinker company, the license for it re-acquired.
Now a team of 22 is working full steam on the game, and Weisman is back in charge of the universe he created, says Gitelman.
Just to be clear since the wording in the article is a tad ambiguous there: Shadowrun Returns is developed by Harebrained Schemes, not Bungie.
