Dark Messiah - Interview with Raphael Colantonio @ Gamasutra

GS: So is that what convinced you to start the studio in Austin?

RC: It’s this word that I use all of the time, “passion.” It’s just, you don’t really think in terms of “let’s make some money,” when you start your own studio; what kind of business plan is getting together four guys to make their own engine for an RPG, none of us having done an RPG, and also in a context where RPGs and the PC market are declining? What kind of a business plan is that? It’s only passion that would drive that kind of craziness.

You work on the game and it takes about two or three years of your life, maybe longer, and at the end you’re three years older! You look back on your life and you think “what have I done with those three years?” It’s like being divorced. I really wanted to be working on things that I feel proud of, that I really wanted to do, so I felt emotionally attached to them.

A lot of the games that I loved in the past were created in Austin, from Origin with the Ultimas, Ion Storm did Deus Ex there, a game I really liked too, so when I went there for the first time I was really like, “wow.” I really thought the place was amazing, and that one day, if we needed to expand, it would be there. I didn’t even have a company when I was thinking that!