Tate Multimedia moves from development to publishing

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Tate Multimedia has gone from a development house to a full-time publisher. Founded over twenty years ago, the company has spent the past nine years publishing its own titles. They recently launched an in-house developed title, Kao the Kangaroo, on six different platforms – digital and physical – around the world. Now they plan to share their experience with others.

Paul Leskowiz, Vice Chairman and Founder of Tate Multimedia, has been in the industry for more than two decades. I had the chance to speak to Paul via an online meeting and ask him a few questions about his past and the future of Tate.

GamesBeat: How did you get into publishing?

Paul Leskowicz: My first experience was in San Diego, California, where I tried to help a local team finish a game. I was a producer at the time. It was 20 years ago and I worked for the group formed by Virgin Interactive and Titus.

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I was sent to San Diego to help finish a game that had been pending for many years. That's how I got into publishing. After that, the Titus Group collapsed along with the other companies, including Interplay. I got into development 20 years ago, and nine years ago I decided it would be a good time to get into self-publishing. And that's what we've done. Nine years ago, we started self-publishing our own titles.

GamesBeat: So you're moving from development to just publishing?

Paul Leskowicz: Yes, large-scale publishing. The idea was an evolution, you know? Over the years, we started publishing our own titles. We've had over 10 PC and console games that we've self-published over the past nine years. After that, we started thinking about moving to third-party developer publishing, so we could share our good and bad experiences, successes and failures. Things we wish they would avoid doing and things we wish they would do better than us, you know?

GamesBeat: You are in the unique position of having worked on both sides of the fence. Do you think your editing experience helped you bridge the gap?

Paul Leskowicz: Absolutely. We just released Kao the Kangaroo about a month ago. I'm one hundred percent confident that, without the nine years of publishing experience we have, there was a very slim chance that we would have managed to release this game on the exact same day, both retail and digital, worldwide, across six consoles. That's what we did. This is quite an achievement for my team.

GamesBeat: Besides experience, what incentives do you offer developers to join your team?

Paul Leskowicz: I think the first thing, the most important thing, is that we invest very early in the project. Even before the vertical slice. This requires a collaborative approach with these developers. They were careful and we were careful how we would distinguish ourselves. 'Cause if we don't get along well, well I'm not saying marriage, but it's a long road to share if we, if we start with fights. That's why we decided that the IP stays with their company because the idea isn't that we shine, it's that they shine. Basically, they're building their own house, their own dream team.

The developers we work with...