Interview
Julian Farrugia
Anvil Game Studios, Malta
Julian Farrugia, COO and Creative Director at Anvil Game Studios, co-founded the studio with his twin brother Andrew. He leads the creation of Holdfast, a multiplayer experience where teamwork, strategy, and chaos come together to forge lasting camaraderie among players.
1 Congratulations on your proud achievements in the NYX Game Awards! Can you share more about your game, your studio, or yourself?
My name is Julian Farrugia, COO & Creative Director at Anvil Game Studios, where I have the pleasure of working every day on Holdfast alongside our close-knit team in Malta. The studio was founded by my twin brother, Andrew, and me, with Andreas Grech joining us shortly after. Our game, Holdfast, is a first- and third-person roleplay shooter set during the Napoleonic Wars and WW1. It’s a self-funded passion project more than 11 years in the making, and over the years it has reached many milestones. The biggest came this year when Holdfast launched on consoles, climbing into the top-seller charts and even surpassing titles like FIFA and Minecraft for a month — selling over 1.8 million copies.
2 What was the moment you realized you wanted to create games, and how has that passion evolved over time?
The first memory that sparked my interest in games was playing on the AMIGA 1500 as a child. However, the moment I realized I wanted to create games was when I watched the film Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe.
3 Tell us about your studio-what's the mission that drives your team's creative process?
Our studio’s mission with Holdfast is to craft multiplayer experiences that players can truly connect with emotionally while having unfiltered fun. We focus on creating large-scale battles where teamwork, strategy, and chaos collide, giving players the freedom to make each match memorable. We’re fundamentally driven by the joy of seeing communities form, strategies unfold, and players immerse themselves in all the chaos and camaraderie.
4 What's the story or concept behind your award-winning game, and what inspired its creation?
What made Holdfast successful is the conception of the roleplay-shooter genre. The game isn’t just another shooter — it’s a chaotic roleplay experience that focuses on player-to-player interaction using VOIP. The inspiration behind Holdfast came from the founders’ shared passion for history, particularly the Napoleonic Wars. The film Master and Commander ignited a fascination with Napoleonic warfare and inspired a desire to recreate that immersive experience — the strategy, the tension, and the camaraderie — within a video game.
5 What do you think is the most innovative or unique feature of your game, and how does it enhance the player experience?
The integration of VOIP changed everything. At the time, no shooter offered voice chat on such a massive scale, and with 150 players in battle, it became the heart of Holdfast. That real-time player-to-player interaction is what defines the game.
6 What's the most unexpected challenge you faced during development, and how did your team tackle it?
It was likely the sheer scale of work required to bring Holdfast to consoles — a project that had already been nine years in the making and originally designed solely for PC. You rarely hear of games going multi-platform so long after their initial release. We chose to handle the entire process in-house, allowing us to maintain full control over quality and take the time needed to ensure the console release felt polished and authentic, rather than just another port.
7 How do you approach balancing technical limitations with creative ambition in your games?
In our games, creative ambition and technical limitations are always in dialogue. We start by defining the experience we want players to have, the roleplay, the scale of battles, and the kinds of interactions that make Holdfast unique. Then we work closely with our engineers to determine what’s feasible.
8 What's a current trend in gaming that you think holds immense potential to become a major element in the coming future?
It’s definitely the focus on multiplayer roleplay, a trend we’re seeing in even the biggest upcoming titles, including GTA 6.
9 How do you see AI, AR, or VR technologies being implemented increasingly, and do you plan to explore further into this area?
AI is already being used by most studios as a supporting tool in game development, and its role will only continue to grow as the technology advances. We’ve experimented with AI for various tasks ourselves, but we believe it works best as a helper rather than a replacement for production. The heart of game-making lies in human creativity, and that’s something AI simply cannot replicate.
10 What kind of emotional or intellectual impact do you hope your game has on players?
Holdfast had a significant impact during COVID, providing a space for people to connect during the challenging months of lockdown. Its casual roleplay gameplay encourages players to engage in fun, unpredictable interactions, leading to countless hilarious moments that bring joy and laughter.
11 If players could take away one message or feeling from your game, what would it be?
If players could take away one thing from Holdfast, it would be the joy of shared experiences and teamwork in a living, chaotic battlefield. We want them to feel the excitement of coordinating with others, the thrill of strategy unfolding in real time, and the laughter that comes from unpredictable, unscripted moments. In the end it’s all about having a blast.
12 What's a dream project or concept you've always wanted to explore, but haven't had the chance to yet?
We’re actually doing that right now with the release of the Holdfast: Age of Sail expansion, returning to the roots of our IP.
13 What's next for your studio? Can you tease any upcoming ideas or projects that can be shared?
We have an expansion titled “Holdfast: Age of Sail” that is coming at the end of this year. It will feature large-scale naval battles, ship boarding, a new pirate faction, captain orders, and much more.
14 What's the biggest change you've seen in the gaming industry since you started, and how have you adapted to it?
The biggest shift in the industry has been toward live-service games. Holdfast is essentially a live-service title, but without the downsides that often frustrate players. This means that as a studio, we need to develop innovative ways to sustain the game while continuing to support it for years to come — all without introducing paid content that provides a gameplay advantage or subscription fees.
15 What's your secret to designing a game world that feels alive and immersive to players?
We prioritize player-driven storytelling. By giving players freedom to roleplay, coordinate, and make choices within the battle, the world feels alive because it’s constantly shaped by human interactions. For us, immersion comes less from cinematic polish and more from creating spaces where players feel their actions truly matter.
16 If you could collaborate with any game developer or studio in the world, who would it be and why?
If I could collaborate with any studio in the world, it would probably be Jagex. They’ve built incredibly long-lasting, player-driven worlds like RuneScape, which thrive on community engagement and evolve over decades.
17 What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone dreaming of starting their journey in game development?
Stay true to your core values.
