In an exclusive interview with The Fly, BonusXP co-founder and president Dave Pottinger and Netflix (NFLX) interactive producer Matthew Denomme discussed "Stranger Things 3: The Game," the developer's relationship with Nintendo (NTDOY), Google Stadia (GOOG), and Netflix's efforts in the video game space.
FIRST 'STRANGER THINGS' GAME: BonusXP released the mobile title "Stranger Things: The Game" in 2017 alongside season 2 of the popular Netflix series, and Pottinger said that the reception to the game "blew away all of our expectations." "We weren’t really sure what to expect," he told The Fly. "It was a secret project for almost its entire development, and I think it was a huge surprise to the fans when we rolled it out. I was floored by the initial reaction.” Pottinger, who said he believes the game has crossed 10.5M downloads, noted that the game's success was organic and largely due to the strength of the "Stranger Things" fanbase, as the studio "never did any marketing" for the title. "I think it’s a good quality game, too, and that certainly didn’t hurt," he added. "So I was surprised but in a fantastically good way that doesn’t often happen, so we were excited and it’s changed a lot of how we think about how to do games.”
WHY THIS FRANCHISE: When asked what drew BonusXP to making licensed games based on "Stranger Things," Pottinger said that his team was "excited" at the prospect of making such games. "For us, it’s about pure passion," he said. "That’s why we started Bonus, that’s why we picked the games that we do. And even though it’s not our franchise, I think we love it as much as a franchise that we’ve made.” The studio co-founder noted that he happened to know "one of the main marketing guys" for the series, namely Chris Lee, director of Interactive Games and Consumer Products at Netflix, which helped spark a working relationship between the two parties.
In a response to a later question on whether there is added pressure when making a game based on a popular license, Dave Pottinger said the studio feels "an immense amount of pressure," but not necessarily due to any constraints or lack of creative freedom. "The pressure we feel is not to let the fans down," he said. "And obviously, the show creators and showrunners and people at Netflix, we certainly want them on board with the game and want them to love the game as much as we do. But in reality, we’re making the game for the players. As fans of the show first, I don’t want to play a crappy Stranger Things game any more than anybody else does! That’s really our bar.”
RETRO AESTHETIC/GAMEPLAY: The "Stranger Things" video games eschew more modern graphical capabilities in favor of classic, pixelated art styles and gameplay mechanics similar to console games from the early 1990s. When asked why the company decided to go in that direction, BonusXP's Pottinger said that the art style is "the perfect fit for the franchise," which he says is "a love letter and an homage to the 80s, so it’s critical to the Duffer brothers and the people associated with the show that we try to do something that’s in the same ballpark, in terms of retro nostalgia."
"We could do a modern game, but it’s a chance to go back and do something that, to me, feels more iconic and more unique, to go back and then do a game that is this perfect marriage between what this show’s zeitgeist is and going back and being this retro thing,” the BonusXP co-founder said.
Meanwhile, The Fly asked Netflix's Matthew Denomme why the streaming giant selected a smaller indie developer like BonusXP for such projects instead of a larger entity, to which Denomme replied, “Well I think, as Dave explained, I think the first game was borne out a relationship he had with our director of interactive, Chris [Lee]. Their success with the first game made them a natural partner for this one. They had a lot of ideas for a follow-up that we couldn’t put into effect for a sequel following season 2, but those are going to see the light of day in this season 3 adaptation, luckily.”
NINTENDO: "Stranger Things 3: The Game" was featured recently in a Nintendo Direct, as it will be available on the Nintendo Switch, and Pottinger said that the Japanese gaming giant has been "fantastic" to BonusXP. He noted that the first "Stranger Things" game the company made "didn't quite line up" with Nintendo to launch on its console, but that BonusXP is now "making a shift" with the new game to launch on consoles. "It's become more of a console game first, and then we’re bringing it to other platforms obviously the same day as season 3, but we think about it primarily as a console game that thankfully is playable on other platforms," Pottinger told The Fly. "But it was a great fit for the Switch because of the co-op. And when we started talking to Nintendo about it, they got really excited about it, and we like to work with people who are really excited about what we do. And it was a great marriage there."
STADIA: When asked what his reactions were to Google Stadia, the tech giant's upcoming video game streaming platform, and whether he has plans to release games on the platform, the BonusXP co-founder said that he's "intrigued" but noted that the company doesn't immediately need another platform for "Stranger Things 3: The Game." He added, however, that the studio will put its games "where the people want" their games to be, but that the developer "will probably be a little cautious about jumping there right away."
"They haven’t talked about their business model exactly yet and there’s still some questions about the tech floating around," Pottinger said. "I’m excited about the opportunities if it can last and that’s where the players go. But as far as new tech? I mean, there’s always new tech. We’re more focused on making games and less about chasing tech. If that’s the right place for our games to go, we’ll go there for sure. But as shiny new technology, we’ll probably let it settle out a little bit.”
OTHER NETFLIX PARTNERSHIPS?: The Fly asked Netflix's Denomme if the company is considering more video game partnerships for other franchises, to which he said, "Yes, certainly!" He noted, however, that the interactive division at the company is "pretty small" and "just getting started really." "We are very interested in developing Netflix IPs into video games, ones that we feel would be a good fit for the medium," Denomme said. "So we are actively seeking out collaborators like BonusXP who are passionate about our franchises and what to put out a quality product.” When asked whether the company has plans for any games based on other original Netflix content, he replied, “We do have some products in development, certainly, but we are not ready to announce them quite yet, unfortunately.”
"Game On" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.
