Gladiux announcement interview with Starcaster Games
Gladiator Begins reboot took on an identity of its own.
Following a reveal by in Weekly Famitsu earlier this week, Starcaster Games has officially announced Gladiux for console and PC. It will launch in 2020 worldwide, with Starcaster Games publishing the game internationally and Acquire publishing in Japan.
Starcaster Games describes Gladiux as “a new brutal arena styled combat game set in […] Ancient Rome,” which originally began as a remake of Acquire’s Gladiator Begins.
“We approached Acquire kind of by accident as we have known each other in passing for many years,” Starcaster Games founder Adam Starcaster told Gematsu. “I told them how much I enjoyed Gladiator Begins on PSP, but from a business perspective I realized it may have never met its true potential due to localization and market timing. But it was an addictive little gem, so we started tinkering with the idea of remaking the title. But it evolved past a remake, and what we are making now is kind of a hybrid reboot and new franchise.”
Starcaster Games will handle publishing duties for Gladiux internationally, while Acquire in cooperation with Confidence will handle publishing duties in Japan, where the game is titled Kentoushi X (Gladiator X). While development began as a reboot of a game in the Gladiator series, which is owned by Acquire, Starcaster stresses that Gladiux is a new game and Starcaster Games title through-and-through.
“We want to build a fun title that can be enjoyed by new players as well as those familiar with the old,” Starcaster added. “So expect a lot of new things, and I mean a lot. We also aimed at making a deep, but varied gameplay style that can be picked up for those with less time, as well as for those with more time. So all we can say for now is there will be multiple story arcs, but with a high focus on gameplay.”
In the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu where Gladiux was first announced, Acquire president Takuma Endo expressed interest in releasing a PlayStation 5 version of Gladiux. Starcaster Games doubled down on that interest to Gematsu.
“We are totally open for it,” Starcaster said. “As Endo said, we are building the game with RTX support and making it for both real-time ray-tracing and non, so that doesn’t leave out Xbox or other platforms, too.”
As for Starcaster Games itself, the name may not sound familiar to most. The company’s main industry focus and development unit is based in Tokyo and run by Kaz Takeshita at Confidence, but it also operates from Baltimore, Maryland and has been working with major studios on production support for game and film titles out of China since 2005. It development focus is mainly for western markets, but with an east-meets-west philosophy.
“Starcaster Games is not a vanity thing, the whole concept was to be a company where people who wanted to remain anonymous could work on games they really want to, and focus on building a utopia for content creation,” Starcaster said. “We are all 20-plus year game industry veterans located in mysterious locations. Starcaster is aiming to be a quality label, with a focus on original content, as well as the occasional dedication project or Reboot. We just like to make good stuff that can be enjoyed.”
Starcaster continued, “We are trying to build a better working atmosphere, and allow those who really have a passion to thrive, without having to uproot or upset the home family balance. We aren’t perfect, but its a goal we strive for.”
A teaser trailer for Gladiux is planned for release within the next few days. For now, view the first screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here and Facebook page here.
