Sidhe Shifts Focus To Downloadable Games

New Zealand-based Sidhe Interactive joins the list of game developers that are shifting their focus from full retail releases to smaller downloadable titles.

You may know Sidhe as the small independent studio responsible for the critically acclaimed downloadable game Shatter. Or, you may know Sidhe from its less popular games, like the zombie killing racer Blood Drive, or Jackass: The Game. Take a guess at which product Sidhe prefers to be associated with...

Yesterday Sidhe's managing director Mario Wynands told Joystiq that the company will be shying away from doing for-hire retail projects and focusing on internally created downloadable titles. "What we are trying to do, given where retail in general is going, is continue to move towards being independent. That is, run the studio on the basis of royalties and download revenue alone, as opposed to being somewhat reliant on third-party publishers. We are, I guess, reacting to the market, in line with the strategy we've had in place for a number of years now, which is ultimately weaning ourselves off work for hire."

 Wynands went on to say that they will still do some retail work, but that they will be much more selective about which projects they take on. "We're still doing retail products, but trying to do retail products where we are being more selective about partners, more selective about what projects we take on, and continuing to transition the amount of resources that we have working on the work-for-hire side, increasingly to the download space."

Given the company's history, it sounds like a solid strategy -- We'll take more Shatters over Blood Drives any day.