From Battlefield mods and Squad to Starship Troopers: A chat with Vancouver’s Offworld

As far as cool gaming crossovers go, Offworld Industries certainly has to be in the conversation.

This year, the Vancouver-based developer teamed up with Starship Troopers star Casper Van Dien to bring his Johnny Rico character to its Starship Troopers: Extermination game. And yet, that’s just one of many notable parts of the Canadian developer’s 10-year history, which began with the well-known “Project Reality” mod for Battlefield 2 and soon led to the creation of the popular multiplayer shooter Squad.

In an interview with MobileSyrup, Offworld’s Vlad Ceraldi (CEO) and Alastair ‘Chuc’ Sew Hoy (head of R&D and co-founder) unpack the studio’s interestingly varied history.

Alastair: What have been some of the biggest challenges of keeping Offworld going over the years?

Alastair ‘Chuc’ Sew Hoy: I think it’s been trying to think beyond our current releases and titles, and to find what is going to be the perfect blend of what our developers are passionate about, and what the market will really respond to. Our core is in military shooters, an incredibly crowded space, but we’ve been able to understand more and more about why players keep coming back to our games and being able to respond to that has been keeping us motivated and pushing forward.

For Alastair: Throughout it all, Offworld has remained independent. Not only that, but you’ve made your own successful original IP in addition to landing the Starship Troopers license. How were you able to achieve that?

Sew Hoy: We pride ourselves in delivering cutting-edge multiplayer and player immersion at a level way above our weight class. I feel that luck was a huge factor in our initial success with Squad. We were a bunch of know-nothing amateur modders who wanted to basically rebuild Battlefield with our vision. I think we were in the right place at the right time, and without the hesitancy of experience that allowed us to make such a gamble.

We knew the tactical shooter market quite well by the time we started because of our previous experience working on Project Reality mod for Battlefield 2, and it allowed us to really drive straight to the core of the team play experience we wanted to deliver. Thankfully we were able to quickly go to market and really connect with our audience.

Squad.

Starship Troopers was another adventurous gamble in us trying to apply what we learned on Squad and apply it to a PvE-style horde shooter. I believe it was a combination of passionate developers, building a vibrant player community and some really really cool tech that fueled our ambition to create and share.

For anyone: Quebec often gets a lot of recognition for its video game output, and understandably so. But of course, the B.C. gaming scene is also quite prolific. What’s it like to be part of the Vancouver developer community, and how has that sector evolved over the years?

Vlad Ceraldi: B.C. has historically not had the same benefits of government support as Quebec — there are programs available, but not as robust. Also, I believe B.C.’s industry has been around longer at scale, boosted by the proximity to the West Coast, the film and TV industry, and the formation of larger studios like EA Canada many years ago. It has been a dynamic community marked by periods of boom and bust. There is so much talent here and many capable programs and schools to help train the next generation. Vancouver has been strong in creating new startups, so there is also a solid entrepreneurial spirit. Despite the high cost of living, it is a great place to live, so bringing more talent worldwide is easier than in other locales.

So many multiplayer games nowadays struggle or even shut down entirely. It’s an incredibly saturated market. With that in mind, how have you continued to navigate and carve out your own place within that space?

Squad.

Ceraldi: We are a community-driven company. I am not sure how many companies have a director of community at the executive table, but our various communities are core to what Offworld is all about. Building experiences that connect people together and creating designs for cooperation, competition, and communication in various measures is part of every game. Many competitors pay lip service to these ideas or do not understand how to execute them. This focus has set us apart and allowed us to own our place in the market.

There are so many military shooters on the market, and yet, you’ve managed to find an audience of over 3 million for Squad. That’s no small feat. To what do you attribute that success? How do you a) make a game that stands out and then b) successfully cut through all of the noise to reach fans and show them what your game is about?

Sew Hoy: We’ve found that over time, we are able to grow our particular market by appealing to existing players of first-person shooters, the casual audience, and challenging them to play a shooter that emphasizes different skills such as initiative, organization, leadership, communication, and team play. It’s not easy to throw a player into a chaotic environment such as a battlefield and to tell them that they’re not the hero, but once they find the appeal and fun, they are hooked for life.

What is it that drew you to the Starship Troopers IP, and how did a relatively small developer from Vancouver end up securing that license from a giant like Sony Pictures?

Starship Troopers: Extermination.

Sew Hoy: We had a previous developer create a Starship Troopers-inspired mod for Squad and put it out to the public. It received a lot of attention and in some ways, was an experiment in the feasibility of creating a co-op horde shooter with the Squad framework. We began working quietly to build up a pitch that included footage and ideas from the mod and brought that directly to Sony Pictures for a series of pitch meetings.

We knew we wanted to leverage the original Starship Troopers IP as it was a relatively quiet franchise in recent years. There was also no compelling multiplayer first-person shooter game set in that universe. Combined with our experience with large-scale battlefield shooters, we had a lot of proof from our end that we could deliver an authentic, compelling experience for Starship Troopers fans.

For Vlad: you came from a mobile background. What lessons did you take from that space — which is highly lucrative but also highly saturated — that you’ve brought into your work at Offworld?

Ceraldi: There were many lessons that the mobile market taught me that are relevant to Offworld. Some of the standout lessons include how to run live operations more effectively. For example, we can add analytics and be more data-aware in our decision-making to focus on the right areas of the game. Part of that comes from communicating with our players, but using data to learn what aspects of the game are more popular is vital information to drive future development. One of the biggest changes that has caused some growing pains for Offworld is our release cadence and an associated robust roadmap for our games. I believe our communities have seen the changes, and while there are many areas I know they want us to focus on, we do our best to listen, adapt, and improve our games regularly.

The Canadian gaming industry is massive, but not a lot of people really know about that. What more should be done to promote the wide pool of talent that we have here and the incredible work that comes out of it?

The breakdown of video game studios by province in 2021. (Image credit: Entertainment Software Association of Canada)

Ceraldi: The industry itself knows that the Canadian industry is strong and talented — at least, the companies that look to hire studios know this fact, but the gaming public may not be as aware. Having that visibility and recognition would be great for Canadian studios but the lack of awareness does not affect their core business. I don’t think gamers really care where a game is made as long as they love it. Companies looking for partnerships know Canada is a great place to do business.

Offworld started out making Battlefield mods, which is such a great origin story. I think that also shows just one of the many ways you can break into professional game development. With that in mind, what advice would you give to aspiring game makers, whether or not they have a background in modding?

Sew Hoy: Don’t rely on others to teach you or tell you what to do, you gotta be hungry to seek that out for yourself or nothing will happen. Open the editor, open example projects, tinker around. You’re not going to create a game overnight, but at least you can figure out what it takes piece by piece.

In 2022, you acquired Redstone Interactive, which was an extension of your partnership on Beyond the Wire. What drove you to pursue that and are you looking to acquire any other studios? How do M&As fit into your larger strategy for the studio?

Beyond the Wire.

Sew Hoy: From a staffing point of view, a lot of the developers were working already in the Squad framework and Unreal. Skills-wise, they had a lot of what we needed more of for the development of both Squad and Starship Troopers. We also had worked with a number of them in the past before Redstone started, so we also knew a lot of them were great cultural fits into Offworld, so the acquisition really was a very smooth transition for the people in both studios.

Ceraldi: We also purchased Periscope’s Post-Scriptum game, rebranded it, and relaunched it as we feared the community would disappear if we did not act. While we could not do the same with Beyond the Wire (BTW), we tried and applied some of those lessons to what is now Squad 44. With BTW, we are proud to have the game as part of our portfolio and wish it had a better fate, but as Alastair mentioned, we also added a great group of developers to the fold. M&A is not our focus, but if we think we can support more communities, we will always look hard at those opportunities.

What do you love most about Offworld?

Sew Hoy: I can come in every day and work on things that I believe in and am passionate about. I get excited when I see other developers share and get excited about their own work. Coming as an amateur modder since high school, to believe that today I had a hand in giving someone else a step up in their career or the opportunity to create is extremely rewarding and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Ceraldi: I work with a talented and passionate group of people who want to build exciting experiences for the communities we serve. I also help people learn and grow, which is a rewarding part of my role.

Offworld is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — congrats! Where do you see the studio in the next 5-10 years? What do you hope to accomplish during this time?

Sew Hoy: More games! More original IP! More players!

Ceraldi: Being recognized as one of the world’s best creators of first-person and third-person shooters with an ever-growing and engaged community.

Squad is now available on PC (Steam). Starship Troopers: Extermination is currently available in early access on PC (Steam). A full launch is set for October 11th on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Image credit: Offworld Industries