Reports that new PopCap studio 4th and Battery's Unpleasant Horse was "rejected" by Apple are misleading, say the company's execs, who explain to Gamasutra what actually happened and what the studio's mandate is.
PopCap's 4th and Battery label hasn't gotten quite the correct shake in the busy time since it was first unveiled a little over a week ago, and the company's execs wish a few things were a little bit clearer -- including the "rejection" reports about debut game Unpleasant Horse. "People said Apple 'rejected' it, which they did not do," PopCap CEO Dave Roberts tells Gamasutra. "There was a miscommunication internally; [Unpleasant Horse] is going through the review process; it wasn't rejected." It should be noted that the miscommunication was partly external as well, with an initial tweet from the company complaining specifically that "Apple rejected Unpleasant Horse cuz of 'mature content.'" Some might have mis-estimated the focus of the studio, as well, Roberts says. "What we're trying to do is different, so we don't want to make money from it; we get irritated when people ask about what our 'big strategy' is [for 4th and Battery]," adds Roberts. But the company presently sees the label as an incubator intended to benefit design creativity, rather than a production line. "It's solely and exclusively designed for our studio team," he says. "If every game has to be Plants vs. Zombies or Bejeweled, that creative bar is so high, and so stressful. It doesn't give you an outlet; it doesn't allow more people to start and finish projects, where you learn a lot." "It's for the soft stuff," says Roberts. "It's a creative outlet for our studio. Unfortunately, some of the brouhaha around it has caused more pressure, but it's just going to be fun stuff."
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