Even before their merger with Blizzard, Activision had nudged EA out as the industry’s top earner a few years back. Now that they’re bonded with the makers of World or Warcraft, there’s no denying that Activision’s currently holds the 800-pound-gorilla spot in the video game jungle.
But, just like monkeys and gorillas share bananas (they do share, right?), Activision’s made overtures to the indie developer community. Last year, the Bobby Kotick-led company held a contest to crown gifted indie developers with wreaths of cash but the winners were only just announced in July. The long wait made many question just what was happening, especially since question of IP ownership were up in the air for much of that time.
This time, video games’ Goliath is teaming with a gathering of Davids, calling on the annual IndieCade festival to help suss out the most promising games from the avalanche of submissions. This year’s IndieCade starts this week and it’s likely that the winners of this indie dev contest will get a spot in next year’s programming.
Maybe the partnership with IndieCade will make things more efficient this time, too. If there’s one thing that indie devs now how to do, it’s work fast. Speaking of working fast, the submission period stays open until December 31 so, if you’re working on the next physics-based cartoon animal masterpiece, get it in before the end of the year.
Activision Independent Games Competition [Activision (PDF)]
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