ROCKFISH Games is a brand new gaming studio based in Hamburg, Germany and specialized in high-quality 3D video games for digital distribution platforms. It was founded by mobile games veterans Michael Schade and Christian Lohr, who have been joint entrepreneurs in the space of 3D graphics for over 20 years. As founders and managers of Fishlabs Entertainment, they had spearheaded 3D mobile gaming for almost a decade before they took on a new adventure with ROCKFISH Games.

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MS: “The past 10 years in the 3D mobile gaming have been a massive ride at an incredible pace! We started with Java games that had a file size of 350 KB and featured rather simple 3D graphics, low-quality mono sound and keypad controls. Eventually, we ended with AAA mobile games that were more than a GB in size and could compete even with console games, featuring stunning 3D graphics, top-notch stereo sound and innovative touch-n-tilt controls.

When we first predicted this development early on in the new millennium, almost everybody we talked to was in serious concern about our state of mind. However, as studied machine engineers we had already been working on Silicon Graphic servers in the early 90s and we saw how fast real-time 3D graphics moved to the PC within less than a decade. To us, it was obvious that the transition to mobile will not only take even less than that but will also grow to a much, much larger install base. Today no one can deny that mobile is by far the most growing but also fastest innovating gaming platform ever.

At the same time, thanks to digital distribution in particular gaming on PC is stronger than ever and next-gen consoles have opened up for independent studios, too. Last but not least today even small teams can deliver outstanding, high-quality game experiences across any platform as lots of middleware solutions are available at reasonable cost. And that is why we at ROCKFISH are completely platform agnostic for our upcoming games.”

CL: “Over the years, Michael and I had been in charge of the development and distribution of more than 30 high-quality 3D mobile games that have generated over 120 million downloads across various app stores and platforms. Thus, we take pride in having put together one of the finest mobile game teams in the world that worked successfully on high-profile IPs like Star Wars – The Imperial Ace and Tony Hawk Down Hill Jam as well as highly successful brand games for bluechip brands like Volkswagen, Barclaycard, Montblanc or Coca-Cola.

However, our biggest achievement has surely been the creation of the critically acclaimed Galaxy on Fire saga, which set new benchmarks for open space shooters on smartphones and tablets and generated no less than 40 million installs on all relevant mobile platforms. As such, the Galaxy on Fire games have been the foundation for our excellent and trustful long-term relationships with key players such as Apple, Google, Nokia and Sony at global level. By constantly pushing the envelope in terms of graphics, gameplay and presentaion, our high-quality mobile games ultimately managed to close the gap to state-of-the-art console or PC productions.

In the end, we used the same tools, the same shaders and the same richness of detail in our mobile games as other studios did in their console games. Ironically, it is our constant pursuit of ever-improving quality on mobile that now created the opportunity for us to get back into the game with a new studio developing its first title for next-gen consoles. As you can imagine, we are incredibly excited about this new venture and we really hate that we cannot reveal more about it at this point in time. But rest assured, it’s gonna be awesome!”