The arc of video game history is not all that long, but the technology behind this medium has evolved at a blistering pace - transforming from simple concepts delivered on floppy disks to graphically-intensive feats of technology in only a couple of generations. Not many developers can say they were around for both eras, butRebellionfounder Jason Kingsley is one of them.
Kingsley, who foundedRebellionin 1992 with brother Chris, said he got his start working out of a basement and sending game concepts to colleagues through the Royal Mail. Now, he is head of a global enterprise that not only develops games, but has its hands in publishing as well as film and television. Game Rant spoke with Kingsley about how his company, and the industry, have grown and adapted to new technologies over the last 30 years.
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A History of Innovation: Rebellion’s Beginnings
Rebellion started developing games at a time when technology was in rapid flux. “I can remember delivering games on floppy disk,” Kingsley said.
“I remember putting floppy disks in the post because it was the quickest way of getting data from me to a colleague that was working remotely. Sometimes, the quickest way was to get in the car and drive it to them.”
As it developed alongside the games industry, Rebellion had to adapt to changing formats. The studio was working withSony when it announced the PlayStation 2, which Kingsley said was the “next-generation” console of the time. By the mid-2000s, when the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles were announced, the idea of a “next-gen” console already sounded like a broken record at Rebellion. “We started to joke that we shouldn’t call it next-gen,” Kingsley said. “We were already talking like that for the last format.”
In the studio’s early days, Kingsley also saw the importance of harnessing emerging technologies to innovate with game design. For Rebellion’s breakout title,the 1994Alien vs. Predatorgamedeveloped for the Atari Jaguar and PC, it pioneered the process of photogrammetry for in-game assets. “We built models for that game and photographed them.”
Rebellion was also one of the first studios to usea 3D lighting methodknown as Gouraud shading in its games, Kingsley said. That process, which became a mainstay of video game design in the 1990s, is used to make 3D objects appear more realistic by shading them in a gradient. Meanwhile, the advent of the Internet was another advancement that changed the way Rebellion interacted with the wider industry. When the studio got its start, the Internet was “a very specialist, rare thing,” Kingsley said. “The landscape has completely changed since then.”
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Rebellion’s Growth in the Information Age, Future Innovations
Asthe Internet became central to game design, the studio used it to further cement its independence. The Internet also gave rise to a culture of self-publishing, Kingsley said, and Rebellion was certainly part of it. “Before Steam, if you wanted to publish on consoles, you weren’t allowed to unless you were a publisher,” he said. “It was a bit of a closed shop.”
The Internet gave developers avenues to publish and distribute their games without engaging a third party.Digital distribution services like Steamgave studios like Rebellion the opportunity to reach global audiences on their own, Kingsley said. “That freed us up to be the masters of our own destiny. We didn’t have to deal with gatekeepers.” As years went on, the advent of self-publishing even convinced console manufacturers such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo that digital distribution was blurring the lines between publishers and developers.
Rebellion’s most successful series,theSniper Elitefranchise, was a product of this developing technology.Sniper Elite“was the first game that was wholly us,” Kingsley said.
“We were the only party involved in making in, funding it, and releasing it. That was a sea change for the company.”
Today, Rebellion is still looking to innovate and explore emerging trends and technologies, Kingsley said. The studio is looking to experiment in new digital business models, such as subscription services offered by companies like Sony and Microsoft. The company is also participating in the ongoing debate surrounding microtransactions and loot boxes. Rebellion will not beimplementing loot boxesin its titles, Kingsley said, which have something of a complicated history among gamers.
Rebellionisn’t stopping at the present, either. Kingsley said he is looking to the future, to what he called a “developing synergy” between games, film, and TV. A lot of gaming technology,such as Unreal Engine, is starting to see use in movies and television shows. “That’s a space I’m really keen on exploring.” Kingsley said he was excited to be on the forefront of figuring out how those new technologies could be best meshed together. “I don’t even know what that means, but it just strikes me that there should be a big overlap there.”
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