Pistol Shrimp and the importance of owning what you make
Pistol Shrimp was established by a group of veteran Toys For Bob developers who had learned the importance of owning what they make through first-hand experience.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, two of Pistol Shrimp's four co-founders Fred Ford and Dan Gerstein say it's an important consideration because while the medium itself has changed tremendously in the decades they've been making games, some things remain largely unchanged.
"I've seen it in many stages and many guises, but one thing that's pretty constant is publishers tend to want to keep everything they can [in exchange for] the money that you get from them," Ford says.
Ford has been involved in legal disputes for control of the sci-fi strategy series Star Control he created with fellow Pistol Shrimp co-founder Paul Reiche under the studio name Toys For Bob.
While working for Crystal Dynamics in the '90s, they built a long-term tool suite and pitched an IP that was never picked up. Since they were employees, Crystal Dynamics technically owned both, which became an issue when Reiche and Ford stopped working with the studio.
"When we separated from them, not only could we not have our IP, but we knew they were never going to use their tools and it was pretty clear our IP was just going to languish there as well," Ford says.
"So we asked them can we have these back because you're not going to use them? And they said 'Sure, for $1 million.'"
Fortunately for the newly independent developers, Crystal Dynamics came back shortly after saying it needed their help with a matter, giving them the leverage they needed to get their tools and IP back as they struck out on their own as Toys For Bob.
Ford says the IP in question served as an inspiration for a key part
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