Gamecock's Hail to the Chimp

Some veterans in the videogame category are announcing the formation of a new publisher they hope will act as the equivalent of an independent film company for small game developers, writes the New York Times.

The new company, Gamecock Media Group, has some of the same top executives as Gathering of Developers, a formerly indie publisher founded in the late '90s by several development companies that teamed up, like the first incarnation of United Artists in Hollywood, to gain more control over their business affairs.

Gamecock plans to release its first games in 2008. It will let developers retain the rights to their intellectual property - not standard practice in the videogame business. The idea is that Gamecock, based in Austin, will finance games with reasonable budgets, ask developers to share in the risk and outsource distribution to keep its costs low.

"We want to bring some fun back to the game business," said Mike Wilson, Gamecock's chief executive. "We can make games that look like anything out there, for less money."