Chacko Sonny

(Exerpted from Interview with Chacko on Breaking In

My first job was at Activision in 1995, as an Associate Producer working on the MechWarrior 2 product line. I got that job after leaving a job as a strategic management consultant at McKinsey & Company in NY. I wanted to get back to something creative and games seemed like the right combination of technical and creative work. Shortly after that I started on Heavy Gear as Producer, along with many members of the MechWarrior 2 team.

After that I left Activision, with two other partners, and seven employees (all formerly of Activision, some from Mech 2, some from the console side) and founded Savage Entertainment. Our first project was to be Heavy Gear 3. Our goal at Savage was to have one team where no one was a pure manager. Everyone would work directly on the project. I worked as a 3D artist on Heavy Gear 3 in addition to my role as Producer, and CFO of the company. Sales of Heavy Gear 2 didn't live up to expectations and Activision exited the giant robot combat market, cancelling Heavy Gear 3. Fortunately, we had been negotiating the Jurassic Park 3 project. I served as Creative Director on that project. Due to a dispute with the publisher over payment, that project has been cancelled as well, and we're now looking for another project.