Third Editions are a French based book publisher who specialize in books created based on video games. They are currently holding a Kickstarter campaign in order to get the books translated for English audiences. Please check out the Kickstarter here.
Upon a brainstorming session I decided to try my hand at interviewing some companies who are involved in video games for Gaming Latest as a way of providing original content to our members, this led me to Third Editions who kindly accepted my request of an interview. The interview follows below, be sure to check out the linked pages in the post and support Third Editions if you can, it seems they have a really nice set of books and they would be perfect for English audiences.
What is Third Editions? What inspired the company?
Why Kickstarter? What do you hope to achieve with it?
Should the Kickstarter be successful - how do you imagine the future of Third Editions?
We can’t wait to see where this Kickstarter campaign goes, and I personally hope they are able to bring the full collection to English audiences - I know I would purchase my fair share of them! What book would you be most interested in?
Upon a brainstorming session I decided to try my hand at interviewing some companies who are involved in video games for Gaming Latest as a way of providing original content to our members, this led me to Third Editions who kindly accepted my request of an interview. The interview follows below, be sure to check out the linked pages in the post and support Third Editions if you can, it seems they have a really nice set of books and they would be perfect for English audiences.
What is Third Editions? What inspired the company?
Third Editions is a gaming books publisher, and it all started because Med and Nico just love video games and the press. When they were little, it was all about running to the local press shop to see what was going on, and coming back to play intensively. That’s why they started a fanzine, a website, etc. pretty early. But as Med went to a publishing school, they decided to go full print and began writing video game books. Because video games are not just toys for kids, they loved the idea that you can treat them as if they were any other cultural good. Why can you write an entire book analyzing the movies of a single director, and not of a game series? This need of legitimacy was at the heart of their intentions. So they started like that, and in France the answer was great. They wrote their first books about series they truly loved, but quickly hired journalists and specialists to write about others. Most of the collection is now from the pen of journalists with years of experience, capable of analyzing and investigating professionally.
What books do you currently have available?
Well, a lot! It’s hard to make a better list of all, because they publish at least a book a month, and the company exist since 2 years now. Zelda, Dark Souls and most of the Final Fantasy, of course, but also Pokemon, Metal Gear, Bioshock, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Half-Life, Fallout, etc. And there are a lot of others which are under writing now and are due for the next months.Take a look on the Kickstarter page, they are listed there (with the visuals).
Why Kickstarter? What do you hope to achieve with it?
The idea of Kickstarter came from a first post in r/gaming, where people went crazy by the look of the covers alone. Some told us to do a Kickstarter to cover the costs of the translation, as long as bringing some light on the books. Because if now the books sell themselves in France, thanks to the notoriety of Third Editions, we are unknown in the whole world, especially the US. So we couldn’t afford to pay for the translation and the printing, on top of a big communication plan. Kickstarter came exactly as what we needed.
Should the Kickstarter be successful - how do you imagine the future of Third Editions?
A rooftop in New York? Just kidding, but we truly want to give to Third Editions an international perspective. The French market is a vivid one, but limited. We feel that it’s time now to have a publisher dedicated to gaming, because it’s a subject with many things to do, and gamers are in demand for that. We don’t want to go full-English and forget our roots, but we want to be able to publish books for different audiences depending on cultures/countries. For example, France loves Japan and all those games, which is less the case in the US. A franchise like Halo is pretty much the opposite. We want tailor-made books for everyone and every series, achieving an ultimate gamer library.
Why should gamers be interested?
Because gaming now is not only a 10 minutes session with a pixel moving alone in a screen, that makes you laugh and forget in the minute. Games gained depth, and players are more than ever invested in them. A lot of them want to know more, want to go deeper into the series they love. That’s what it’s all about, going further than the game itself, enriching their experience. It’s a set of mind about games, thinking that they are worth a book of pure knowledge. And, icing on the cake, they look great on a shelf!
You are currently only kickstarting 3 books to be translated for the English audience. Do you plan to bring the rest of the collection to English audiences, and if so how? For me, the Resident Evil series you mentioned is of particular interest.
Yes we do! Actually we aim at reaching our goal and go for stretch ones. Setting stretch goals every X dollars will unlock a new book each time. We wish to unlock our entire collection during this Kickstarter, and if we can't, well we'll find a way in the future. We don't want just to have fun, we're serious about getting international.
So, three books are currently seeking funding for translation: Zelda. Archive of a legendary saga, Dark Souls. Beyond Death and The Legend of Final Fantasy VII. Three books based on huge series. But the real deal comes with the rest of the company, they have published on average one book a month in France and there are some interesting books based on series that would also suit the English audience: BioShock, Resident Evil, Silent Hills, Metal Gear Solid, Half Life and many more. This is where the company really gets interesting; they have books for many series and seem to be able to release high quality books quickly enough to build an interesting library. If the full collection of books were to be translated, which seems likely some will if stretch goals are met - we may have a new source for gaming lore and analysis.
We can’t wait to see where this Kickstarter campaign goes, and I personally hope they are able to bring the full collection to English audiences - I know I would purchase my fair share of them! What book would you be most interested in?
