Nightdive VP of business development, Larry Kuperman, has announced his retirement from full-time work in the games industry. Kuperman's 25-year career in games took him from publisher Stardock to retailer GameStop, but his most defining work was with the preservation specialists at Nightdive. I had the chance to speak with Kuperman about his career and decision to retire earlier this month at the Game Developers Conference.

The technical challenge of making an old game work on new hardware is one part of the story. The other, infamously, is untangling the tightly-wound knot of IP rights restricting access to some of the classics⁠—spy shooter No One Lives Forever has proven a bit of a white whale for Nightdive, for example.

A big part of Nightdive's origin was founder Stephen Kick discovering that the rights to System Shock were held by a Midwestern insurance firm of all things. Kuperman joined the company early in its life as a specialist in this part of the process.

"There were two things that I felt were obligations that we really owed to the fans," Kuperman said of the timing for his retirement. One of them was Sin: The cult classic, deliciously '90s, Quake 2 engine shooter is getting a full remaster in Sin Reloaded.

Like with System Shock, Nightdive now owns the full rights to Sin. That meant timing was fully under Nightdive's control, but also that it went on the back burner whenever the studio had an obligation to someone else, "Because when Bethesda asks you if you want to remaster Doom, you don't have to think about that one," said Kuperman.

The other thing Kuperman wanted to see through to the end was last summer's System Shock 2 remaster⁠—which I highly recommend, by the way. The remaster was promised as a reward for Kickstarter backers of the 'Shock 1 remake⁠—also excellent⁠—all the way back in 2016, and Nightdive honored those commitments nearly a decade later.

"There were financial sacrifices," Kuperman said of this and other decisions by Nightdive. "Things that would have been more profitable had we said, 'Yeah, we said we're going to do this, but we have to charge you for it.' But we didn't do that."

The games industry was already a second act for Kuperman when he joined Stardock in 2001, so the move to Nightdive after leaving what he assumed to be a "forever job" at GameStop might constitute Act Three. "I find myself unemployed at the tender age of 57, which is a great age to make new strides in the gaming industry," Kuperman quipped.

But the recently-formed Nightdive was the second company he called when weighing a cross-country move. It turned out he and Kick shared fundamental values when it came to the medium. "We never looked at games as products," said Kuperman, attributing this to their backgrounds in the arts. "If games are art and the people that make them are artists, artwork deserves to be preserved."

One of Nightdive's innovations in recent years has been the inclusion of DVD extras-style development material with its remastered games: Trailers, concept art, documentary footage, even cut content like a lost level for Star Wars: Dark Forces. But Kuperman also touched on a melancholic note for the human history of the industry.

"If you need a whole lot from my generation, you better get it now," said Kuperman "This has been a tough year. The loss of [programmer Rebecca Heineman] really, really hurt me. It was so sudden, and she was a person so full of life.

"And then not long after, Vince [Zampella] of course⁠—I didn't have a personal relationship with him, but everybody in the industry knew him, so it impacted all of us. My friend Paul Crockett passed January 1."

Kuperman intimated that these losses partially motivated his decision to retire. But he won't be leaving the industry entirely⁠—Kuperman indicated that he still plans to be active with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), "trying to make things a little bit easier for the people that are entering [the industry]."

"If I have one parting lesson to give to the industry, it's never say die. Our industry is very forgiving, and even an old man with limited talents and a background in theater can make it," said Kuperman. "The industry has been really, really good, certainly to me, to a lot of people. I found myself without a job, in my late 50s, and things somehow managed to work out a whole lot better than I had any right to expect."

"You're a demon made of glass and pain" has to be one of the hardest taglines there's ever been for a videogame. Now that Skate Story has a December 8 release date and approximately hour-long demo, we've found out there's an addendum to that sick as hell pitch: "And you're on a quest to eat the Moon."

Skate Story is a game that has periodically poked its head out over the past few years to say, "This is still happening, here's an absolutely incredible-looking trailer with killer music." There is nothing else out there that looks like Skate Story: Its marble columns and greek statuary poking out of surreal dreamscapes are very vaporwave, but there's so much else going on that makes it distinct from other abstract, crunchy works of surrealism like Hyper Demon. This is a rare game that leverages 3D graphics being untethered from reality to show you things that are breathtakingly, impossibly beautiful.

Every new vista in the demo's frenetic opening⁠—which sees you following a rabbit through hell portals, skating into new areas every few seconds⁠—had me hooting and guffawing so loud it scared my pets. Comparing the launch day trailer to the 2020 debut that already stole our hearts, it's easy to see where at least some of that long development effort went.

Skate Story looks much more refined and advanced in its current state, like 2020 Skate Story was an initial outing, and 2025 Skate Story is its much better-funded sequel on a new console generation. But we already knew Skate Story was going to look and sound incredible from those mic drop trailers. Along with the pleasant surprise of an actual release date after all this time, I had a wonderful feeling of relief discovering that Skate Story is also extremely fun to play.

In a real "I don't know what else I expected" moment, it plays a lot like other skateboarding videogames: You press a button to kick off the ground and pick up speed, auto grind on rails by landing on them, and have an assortment of button combos to kickflip, ollie, pop shuvit, and all that other stuff that's corroding the moral fibre of the youth. Comboing tricks together in succession, with an emphasis on variety and audacity, will contribute to a soul score you use to buy stuff, and also plays a role in Skate Story's boss fights.

That's one big thing that sets Skate Story apart for me: Having a structured, substantial story campaign with complex boss fights and some linear, obstacle course levels in addition to making your own fun sandbox play. You can still tool around in the open-ended hub worlds, racking up money from combos to get stickers, wheels, and all new boards. But it feels like the sandbox is an addition to the campaign, rather than the sandbox being front and center over those kind of ad hoc story missions you see in a lot of skating, racing, and live service games.

Skate Story also nails its mechanical execution: It feels fantastic in the hand. Its zoomed-in, off-center camera contributes to a real sense of speed, while you're encouraged to end combos with an authoritative stomp move with some delicious hitstop.

The weight and momentum of the Skater led to all kinds of close calls and rescued combos for me, particularly when I'd just about collided with some grindable terrain or some of the hell glass obstacles strewn around and ollied into a grind or drifted at just the last second to avoid wiping out. If you do beef it, no sweat⁠—Skate Story spawns you just a few feet back and you can get right back into it, a system that reminds me of Hotline Miami with its speed and convenience, but notably does not set back your progress.

So, Skate Story: Believe the hype. This game has gone from vaporware to a personal GOTY contender in the span of a two minute trailer and 50 minutes of demo. You can try Skate Story's demo for yourself and wishlist it on Steam ahead of its December 8 launch.