Tim Willits, former Studio Director at id Software, joined Saber Interactive as the new Chief Creative Officer. Fortune broke the story and managed to talk to Tim Willits about this sudden and unexpected career change.
Being with a studio for 24 years, it’s really hard to leave. It’s almost like a marriage, for lack of a better description…. But I saw how Saber, as a team, was starting to grow and expand and pick up teams and studios. It was a good time to move over.
At my age, you’ve got to work with people you like. You’ve got to work on fun stuff. I don’t have anything to prove. I’ve been successful. I’ve made good games. … At the end of the day, I’m literally going to travel around the world to cool as places to work with awesome teams and make video games. Why would I pass this up?
The agility of small teams and the opportunity to get stuff done quickly can’t be overstated. I’m not saying anything bad about Bethesda—I love them—but smaller teams are exciting and fun. When someone has a good idea, we jump on it. If it doesn’t work out, we change it quick.
Saber Interactive recently made the successful World War Z game adaptation, but they also dabble in other genres, as exemplified by titles like NBA Playgrounds, Spintires: MudRunner and Shag Fu: A Legend Reborn. Tim Willits thinks he can inject these genres with some of the high-intensity fun factor he mastered for shooters while at id Software.
It comes down to the attention to precise detail. In a Quake or Doom game, everything has to be perfect—every microsecond. The games I’ve made in the past, they’re not the easiest games to play, but I’ve learned a lot on how to bring people in. And I do think there’s a lot of crossover. Even in World War Z, a lot of the mechanics are similar, but I do really believe I can bring some of that intensity and action into new genres.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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