Return to the Savage Planet: Raccoon Logic on sequels, big companies and economic turmoil

gamesindustry.biz:

Raccoon Logic is making a new game in its Savage Planet universe.

It's not exactly a surprise considering the lengths the studio went through to get the IP back. The first game was created by the same team (then Typhoon Studios) but within the Google Stadia division before it closed. And although Google were amenable to returning the game to its creators, it was quite the process.

"It was countless accountants, lawyers… lots of discussions," says executive producer and Racoon Studios co-founder Reid Schneider. "Because we had been employees of Google, there were discussions around how a transaction would be structured so they would be no liability."

Creative director Alex Hutchinson adds: "Google is extremely fearful of litigation because they're sued every day by everybody. They wanted to make sure it was transparent and clear, which made it incredible complicated. We now have tax obligations that will haunt us to the grave. We get audited by multiple companies, it is horrible.

"It was one of the things that were incredibly complex, and incredibly dull."

In fact, the deal took so long that the IP hadn't even been acquired by the time the studio had started.

"We had people starting asking what they should do, and we were like: we're going to need a couple more weeks," Schneider laughs.

Raccoon Logic didn't need the Savage Planet IP to exist. The developer was backed by Tencent even before it acquired the rights. So why was it so important to put themselves through such a process?

"When you work for bigger studios, the technology base you have and the tool base you have is such a leg-up on the more boring parts of game development," Hutchinson explains. "I personally don't need to redesign another input method