Gatineau based RatRod Studio is a gaming app startup that started work in 2009. The digital firm works on a number of different projects including the development and release of interactive web content, mobile games,computer games and console based games. In its roughly four years of existence the gaming studio has gotten 25 million downloads of its different products. RatRod did not maange to develop a hit game right away but became a success thanks to hard work, patience and creativity. The most recent success for the Canadian startup has been Drift Mania Championship 2 which made it to the top of the Windows Stores in US and Canada as the Top Paid App.
Pat Toulouse, founder of Rat Rod, spoke with Microsoft Canada Technical Evangelist to discuss the company’s past, recent games and success. Toulose told the makers of Windows Phone that he had initially paid for his startup from his own money. He adds that, “I had to tighten my belt and make a lot of sacrifices in order to make that happen.”
He goes on to say, “I basically managed to put together the entire company infrastructure myself including our day to day development tools, servers and communication network. In the meantime I was also trying to do a few freelance 3D jobs on the side in order to get some income to pay bills. This was like having three jobs at once; working 80 to 100 hours a week for over two years.”
The hard work has paid off for RatRod and the company has a number of upcoming titles ready to be released. The Canadian startup also has a freemium game in development that will the first of its kind for the company. RatRod has its eye on the future and is developing a system to deliver ads to its products. This will give the company the ability to be less dependent on other ad systems and a paid model while increasing revenue and customization options for clients.
The company currently employees a number of developers and on average 20 staff members can work on a single game. That is why RatRod has moved into a larger space to accommodate the current growth an staff size. Toulose says that, “This is only the beginning. We are tech junkies and this is what’s fueling us.”
Toulose also claims BizSpark is behind a lot of the startups progress and says, “Our team was able to benefit from the best software and tools on the market at no cost, allowing us to focus our budget on other areas such as growing the team and polishing our games. Microsoft has done a great job to support developers.”
Source: TechVibes
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