Industry Insights: Life After EA

By Rick Giolito

Given our current economic realities and the steps many studios are taking to survive, our industry is at a very interesting crossroads. In case it helps others that may be about to embark on this path, I’d like to share what it was like to leave a senior level position in interactive gaming and start all over again at my own studio. Before it happened to me, I knew people who left the big leagues for something smaller, and I had to ask myself, “Are they crazy”?

Up Close With Michael Pole

What was your first memory of a videogame?

My first memory of a video game come from my days hanging out with friends at the video
game arcade. Joust and Robotron were two of my favorite games. My first memorable experience on the console system was playing the original World Series Baseball on the Sega Genesis.
There’s always something that makes you say: “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life”.

Trilogy Studios’ Michael Pole builds virtual worlds

The gig: Chief executive of Trilogy Studios, which moved to Sherman Oaks from a Santa Monica warehouse this week. The company has 32 domestic employees and 300 workers in Shanghai who develop multi-player online games and virtual worlds. In one, the "Pimp My Ride" world for MTV, more than 3 million subscribers personalize avatars that upgrade virtual cars. Other clients include Coca-Cola Co., Toyota Scion and Viacom Inc. Pole co-founded the private company, whose gross revenue is expected to grow 200% this year, with Rick Giolito in 2005.

Disney: When You Wish Upon a Startup

Its media-oriented VC fund, Steamboat Ventures, is quietly nurturing entrepreneurs
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) can fire up one of Hollywood's best-oiled marketing machines to promote Hannah Montana or High School Musical. But when it comes to one of its latest profit centers, Steamboat Ventures, the media giant dials down the publicity. Located in a nondescript building two miles from Disney's Burbank headquarters, the $575million venture capital firm has quietly nurtured 25 startups in an aggressive effort to seed new ideas.

Kung Fu Panda beats projections

"Kung Fu Panda" kicked Adam Sandler's butt at the boxoffice this weekend, as the DreamWorks Animation comedy opened even bigger than expected with an estimated $60 million domestically.

Sony's comedy "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" -- starring Sandler as an Israeli commando turned New York hairdresser -- bowed about as anticipated, with $40 million, in second place.

Industrywide, the weekend marked a welcome 29% uptick from the same frame a year ago with $175 million in collective boxoffice, according to Nielsen EDI.