Company Profiles - Infinite Interactive

Infinite Interactive


Victorian games developer, Infinite Interactive, has emerged as a key player in the global games industry by combining its traditional expertise with a new style of game.

The story so far


Melbourne-based company Infinite Interactive has built an enviable reputation with hardcore gamers around the world.

Its complex strategy and role-playing PC series Warlords has been the mainstay of the business for more than 20 years. But in 2007 the company surprised the industry by launching a completely new type of game.

Called Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and set in the same world as Warlords, it fuses some of the role-playing and strategy elements that hardcore gamers enjoy with the simple design of a puzzle-based game, preferred by casual users.

Puzzle Quest was an instant hit. Within a year it succeeded on six platforms and won several international industry awards. It was Nintendo’s number 1 selling puzzle game for 2007.

“I never accepted that hard core and casual gamers were separate groups, so Puzzle Quest was about creating something that appealed to both,” said Infinite Interactive CEO Steve Fawkner.


Reaching new markets


The game’s success marked the start of a major growth phase for Infinite Interactive, including expansion of its traditional markets in Europe, North America and Asia, particularly in Japan.

The company also forged a partnership with global games developer Capcom Entertainment to create a new adventure game aimed at the massive Neopets community.

Neopets is a pet simulation game with more than 30 million registered users worldwide, who access the website in 11 different languages. It is one of the world’s fastest growing youth-oriented sites and ranks among the top 10 ‘stickiest’ on the internet, generating over seven billion page views worldwide per month.

Launched in 2008, Neopets demonstrates Infinite’s skills in blending traditional genres and creating game-based experiences and challenges that appeal to a wide audience. This is also true of two new games launched in 2009.

Galactrix is the much anticipated sequel to Puzzle Quest and is already selling well. Puzzle Kingdoms takes the fusion of role-playing and puzzle-solving games to a new level.


Why Victoria?


Despite its expanding markets and partnerships, Infinite Interactive plans to stay in Melbourne.

Steve credits the city’s innovative culture for contributing to the company’s sustained success.

“Some of the world’s most popular games are created in Melbourne. The games industry is very competitive here and new ideas and risk-taking are more acceptable. Without that environment, Puzzle Quest would probably never have been created.”

Victoria’s geographical position between the United States, Europe and Asia allows Steve and his team to easily reach partners and markets.

Melbourne also has the expertise and skills the company needs, with a highly skilled and multi-lingual workforce, vital for developing games played in multiple languages.


The future


Infinite Interactive plans to keep pushing the boundaries. While its games are played by millions, the challenge for Steve hasn't changed since he was a teenager in the early 1980s giving his games away for free at computer conferences.

“We want to encourage as many people to play as possible,” he said. “I don’t think gaming is mainstream yet. My ultimate goal is to see families switching off mind-numbing television programs and playing a good puzzle game together instead.”

Infinite’s future plans include continuing to develop and improve its long-running Warlords series as well as developing new games that fuse genres and attempt to capture the imagination of new players.

“Recently we've done some research into how people play our games which has revealed a few surprises,” said Steve.

“We discovered things we didn't expect and so we’re keen to respond to these and perhaps develop a game that takes a whole new approach. That’s the fun of this industry: it’s always changing and there are endless possibilities.”