We’ve learned that two of publishing company Gamecock’s key ex-members, Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, have set up a new company for working with Croteam in publishing Serious Sam HD. Quoth Wilson, “Croteam owns the IP still since they had a G.O.D. deal, and are therefore able to work with us again on the new version”.

This is somewhat peculiar, as while Serious Sam is a great IP, Gamecock and its legacy is decidedly not; for one, most of the games the company published never really reached their goals. Take Fury, for example, which folded in the record-breaking breadth of 10 months, or Legendary, which despite its clever name, got mercilessly and uniformly clobbered in reviews.

At the end of the day, it came as no surprise when Gamecock was bought out by SouthPeak in late 2008. Coupled with the group’s ludicrous stage antics, massive extraprofessional ventures, presidential ambitions and guerrilla-style marketing, one would think Wilson and Miller’s image would be permanently crippled, as the collateral damage caused by Gamecock’s demise is already evident with companies like Crackpot Entertainment.

I do have to hand it to Miller and Wilson for their insistent persistence (and apparent budgetary depth). Or perhaps the negative image of Gamecock is slightly (if only slightly) undeserved, the result of their controversial public face more than their actual abilities? After all, many Gamecock-published developers have praised the team for their willingness to take risks and publish games that would not have seen the marketplace otherwise. Take Renegade Kid, who published this statement:

…Our relationship with Gamecock is amazing. Working with the talented people at Gamecock has been an extremely positive experience, and one that both Gregg and I would love to repeat many, many more times.¹

1. http://www.renegadekid.com/news.htm [↩]