Delphi Interactive CEO Casper Daugaard recently spoke during panel at the Paley Center for Media. During the discussion, he shared that his company has been having conversations with big IP-holders after the positive reception of Delphi Interactive’s FIFA and James Bond projects. While he did not mention any companies or brands by name, he did speak about why he believes brand holders are approaching Delphi Interactive for potential projects.
According to Daugaard, previous licensed games have often underperformed commercially because they are made for the wrong people. Daugaard argues that these licensed games were made for gamers, consumers who were already playing and buying video games, when they should have been made for a broader audience, fans of the franchises those games were adapting. To make his case, he used Delphi Interactive’s own 007 First Light game as an example of what should be done with licensed game projects. Since most other James Bond game projects have been first-person shooters focused on gunplay, he believes that another developer would ask themselves what fans of shooter games would want out of the project. Instead of asking themselves that, Daugaard says that Delphi Interactive asks themselves what fans of the James Bond brand and character would expect out of a game with the brand: elements such as espionage, driving, and social interactions like flirting.
Using this mindset, Daugaard also separates Delphi Interactive from more conventional AAA publishers. By his own description, Delphi Interactive is a company that secures valuable licenses, partners with experienced developers, builds games around those brands, and works with external studios. This is a business model Delphi Interactive has discussed in previous interviews. Daugaard suggested that this business model has contributed to the increased interest from major brand holders, which could indicate that some major IP owners are increasingly open to working with smaller, specialized partners. If that trend continues and Delphi’s current projects prove successful, its approach could become more influential within the licensed games market.