News

Australian marketeer Surprise Attack kicks off 2012 with 12 clients

Expects to be promoting 20+ games during the year

Australian marketeer Surprise Attack kicks off 2012 with 12 clients
Indie-focused consulting agency Surprise Attack has ended its free beta trial period, emerging with 12 indie game developers on its books.

The first half of 2012 will see 10 games emerge from devs under the Surprise Attack umbrella, with an expected 20-25 games to have launched by the end of the year.

In control

"One of our key learnings from the beta was that there is huge demand for the kind of services we offer," said founder Chris Wright.

The beta was an opportunity for companies to work with the start up agency without financial risk.

"We spoke with around 50 developers during the beta period. A common trend was that they know they need help with marketing their games but a great many don't want to sign up with a publisher – they want to build their studio brand and have more control over the marketing," he added.

"That's where an agency such as Surprise Attack can really work for these teams – we provide scale, expertise and connections but the developer is always in control and always comes first."

Team players

Surprise Attack's clients include the team behind the Gamebook Adventure series, Tin Man Games, as well as The Voxel Agents, developer of the Train Conductor series.

The other 10 developers consist of Kumobius of Bean's Quest, PlaySide Studios made up of the ex-EA Visceral team, League of Geeks, Ignition Studios of Monkey Mini Golf, Millipede Creative Development, Initials, SmallGreenHill, Stephan Schutze and Brickman, as well as one unannounced studio.

For more information on the Melbourne-based outfit check out its website.

When Matt was 7 years old he didn't write to Santa like the other little boys and girls. He wrote to Mario. When the rotund plumber replied, Matt's dedication to a life of gaming was established. Like an otaku David Carradine, he wandered the planet until becoming a writer at Pocket Gamer.