Straight from the Source: Matt Bloch [Part 1]

Matt: Anyways, Big Huge Games was initially Microsoft Games Studio, and then they got handed over — after my time actually, to THQ. THQ eventually sold them to Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios. Then, his [Curt’s] company went bankrupt in disastrous fashion in 2012 — owing a lot of money to the state of Rhode Island. The state was trying to cultivate businesses, so it was their investment that was lost– the taxpayers’ money. So every company under 38 Studios, I think there were two or three companies under Curt’s parent company, all dissolved. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked a bit…but I just wanted to say that Big Huge Games came back in 2014! They reassembled. The main co-founders and a lot of the same staff, came back together and they are making games again. Their only game so far since coming back together is Dominations, a cell phone game, free to play. It resembles Clash of Clans, I’ve been told. Since that is my alma mater, I downloaded it and have been playing it for a year. It’s nice to see that logo pop up. The splash screen with the logo — Big Huge Games.

The entrance to Space Station.

PushDustIn: Kind of nostalgic, I guess?

Matt: Yeah.

PushDustIn: Are there any games that you worked on personally that you can talk about?

Matt: I was there during Rise of Nations, the first game and the Rise of Nations expansion pack. I left during Rise of Legends, a fantastical take in the vein of Rise of Nations using the game engine they had built, which was historically very reminiscent of Age of Empires and Empire Earth.

PushDustIn: I actually remember seeing the game in stores when I was younger.

Matt: Right, I remember coming to Japan in 2003 and taking a picture of the game on the shelf.

PushDustIn: Have you ever wanted to go back to the game industry? Well that part of the game industry?

Matt: Well, no, I suppose not. I like running this bar. Working at a game company sounds great. But I was turned off to the idea of working at a game company in Japan because of what I read in the blogs of people who were working in Japan’s game industry. In particular there were these three blogs were written by foreigners, living in Japan, working at game companies. Now the three of them, I’m not sure if they knew each other. They worked at different companies. But they all had the same complaints, which were: long hours, low pay, and no creative freedom. So while it may be the nerd’s wet dream to not just have a job in the games industry, but to have a job in the games industry in Japan, it seems the reality is not rosey. I imagine this is commonly known now. Although, all that being said, I do have quite a few friends in game companies here, working as localizers and programmers, and it doesn’t seem as though they are hating their lives here.

For more information about Space Station, head over to its’ Facebook page and give it a like!

Stay tuned for part two tomorrow! Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news, straight from the source!