Interview:
An Interview with Heatwave Interactive CEO Anthony Castoro

Anthony Castoro is the CEO and founder of Heatwave Interactive, which produced Platinum Life and iSam Jackson, and recently purchased the esteemed MMORPG Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

Castoro has worked in gaming for nearly 15-years, holding positions as a game tester, designer, lead designer, and division director. He travels frequently to Japan, China, and South Korea to enrich his connections with gamers, game developers and distributors worldwide.

Alltern8.com recently had an opportunity to talk to Castoro about the new acquisition, the success of Platinum Life, and much more.

Alltern8: Heatwave Interactive recently purchased Gods & Heroes. Can you tell us about your plans for the game?

Anthony Castoro: We’re still in pre-production, inventorying everything we have and getting all up and running with modern tools/platforms, but it plays well! At this point, I can’t say much more than we’re going to make sure it lives up to people’s expectations and our high standards. We’ll bring our special Heatwave style to the presentation.

Alltern8: What helps you decide what games and media to produce?

AC: We actually have a very defined formula for deciding what to do. It’s call the “Heatwave Intellectual Property” process, or “HIP Process” for short. We use this process to keep everyone, whether they be stakeholder, game designer or investor aligned with the vision for how any product qualifies as a Heatwave product. It requires the Champion of a product or idea to answer lots of questions from factual ones like “Is it unique?” and “Is it recognizable,” to more philosophical ones such as “What are you trying to say with this project?”

It’s a stage-gated process that requires all parties in Heatwave to agree that it meets our standards.

Alltern8: It has been a few weeks since "Platinum Life" came out in March. How have gamers responded? What have you learned from it?