GameSpot AU's February developer is Krome Studios. Founded in 1999, Krome has expanded to include studios Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide; their impressive repertoire includes one of last year's biggest titles, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Wii, PS2 and PSP. We had a chat with Krome's creative director, Steve Stamatiadis, about the company's future and its place in the Australian game development industry.

Steve Stamatiadis founded Krome in 1999 with current CEO Robert Walsh. In his role as Creative Director, Stamatiadis is involved in a wide range of roles, from level design and art direction to character design and story and cut-scene direction. Stamatiadis and Walsh met while collaborating together on Pro Body Boarding in 1998, where they decided they suited one another's work ethic, and formed Krome Studios shortly thereafter.

"Krome was all about going after international business in a serious way and making an effort to work in tandem with publishers," Stamatiadis said. "Not much has changed since Krome's beginnings. We have mostly focused on making the quality of life better for everyone while being smarter about how and what we make as games. We want people to go home and spend time with their families as much as possible. I'd say we're still far from perfect but it's one of the big things we work hard at every year."

Krome has 350 full-time staff employed in its Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide studios. The studio has worked with publishers including Microsoft, Activision, Lucas Arts, EA and THQ; some of the studio's biggest titles to date include Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Wii, PS2 and PSP, The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night for the Wii and PS2, Viva Pinata: Party Animals and the TY the Tasmanian Tiger series, which has sold over two million copies. According to Stamatiadis, Krome has enjoyed success all over the world.

"That's not surprising in the case of a Star Wars game, but it's very cool when you think that TY the Tasmanian Tiger series has taught kids all over the world to use Australian slang," he said. "Unfortunately, the local market here in Australia is still a little too small to support the industry in any meaningful way, which is why all the local development studios have had to compete on the international market. It's a pretty good testament to our local talent that we can and do compete favourably against international titles every year."

Stamatiadis says that while the Australian industry is still in its infancy, local studios are making some of the most exciting games across the board, and are being recognised for their work internationally.

"I don't see why Australian developers can't develop and publish their own titles," he said. "With outlets like Wii-ware, Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network and even Steam there are plenty of places to distribute software. That said, international publishers are a safety net for Aussie developers--not only on the finance front, but as a resource for making and marketing games better."

Stamatiadis says he likes working in Australia, and he encourages Aussie gamers not to feel disheartened by all the seeming disadvantages of living down under.

"The high prices of games, as well as long waits for PAL versions, continue to be issues after all these years. I won't even get started on the lack of an R18+ rating, which just makes our entire country look backwards. It's encouraging to see that even with all that negativity, Aussies still love to play games in a big way."

Krome Studios is currently working on three unannounced projects for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 and is also in the midst of developing a new, original IP, provisionally titled Blade Kitten.

VITAL STATISTICS

Name: Krome
City: Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne
Company size: 350 employees
Games:
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, 2008, LucasArts (Wii, PS2, PSP)
Clone Wars: The Lightsaber Duels, 2008, LucasArts (Wii)
Scene It? Box Office Smash, 2008, Microsoft (Xbox 360)
Hellboy: The Science of Evil, 2008, Konami Interactive (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP)
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, 2007, Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment (Wii, PS2)
Viva Pinata: Party Animals, 2007, Microsoft Game Studios (Xbox 360)
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, 2006, Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment (PS2, GameCube, Xbox)
TY the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan, 2005, Activision, Krome Studios (PS2, GameCube, GameBoy Advance, Xbox)
TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue, 2004, EA, Krome Studios (PS2, GameCube, GameBoy Advance, Xbox)
King Arthur, 2004, Konami Entertainment, Buena Vista Games (PS2, GameCube, Xbox)
The Adventures Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius: Jet Fusion, 2003, THQ, Nickelodeon Interactive (PS2, GameCube, GameBoy Advance)
Barbie Sparkling Ice Show, 2002, Vivendi Games (PC)
TY the Tasmanian Tiger, 2002, Krome Studios, EA (PS2, GameCube, Xbox)
Disney's Extremely Goofy Skateboarding, 2001, Disney Interactive Media (PC)
Barbie Beach Vacation, 2001, Mattel Interactive (PC)
Sunny Garcia Surfing, 2001, Ubisoft (PS2)
Championship Surfer, 2000, Mattel Interactive (Dreamcast, PS, PC)