MurrayL

‘Up to 85%’ is a meaningless figure

The definition of indie is always contentious, but there are definitely studios out there who are independent (as in not owned by a larger company) but work with a publisher for funding, marketing, and other support.

Even beyond that bit of semantics, many indies rely on funding from investors of one sort or another, be that angel investors, startup funds, or even just small business loans.

Many of those investors have lost their appetite for games, making it extremely difficult to pay the bills unless you’ve already got a sizeable cash reserve to cover costs.

Tell that to all the smaller studios that have already been decimated and forced to close because of their publishing/funding deals falling through over the last couple of years.

You don’t hear much about it because they’re smaller and/or working on things that hadn’t released yet, vs the occasional big media splashes from companies like MS doing more layoffs, but indies and AA are being gutted too.

It’s comforting to believe that only the biggest companies are struggling, but the industry as a whole is currently in active collapse from the inside out.

I wish that was true, but funding has dried up across the entire sector and that affects the viability of smaller studios more than it does the mega corps with bottomless warchests.

Realistically, it’s Animals for me. Solid narrative theme, Roger Waters’ trademark cynicism at peak potency, great tunes.

But part of me also wants to play devils advocate and say The Final Cut? Okay it’s not the greatest album they made, but it feels raw and real and heartfelt in its own way.

Not just there - morale in game dev as a whole is rock-bottom. There’s been a layoff seemingly every other week since the end of 2023 and very few companies are actively hiring any more.

I’m not sure how aware the average consumer is of the state of the industry beyond a handful of high profile layoffs, but make no mistake: it’s in free fall right now, and people are leaving/being forced out in droves.

If you’re thinking of becoming a game dev right now, the best advice I can give is don’t.

Loving this little nugget from the article:

the translucent CD, which was pitched as an environmentally friendly option

Ah yes, the environmentally friendly option of producing thousands of plastic disks that don’t work.

Map men, map men, map map map men (men men)

Not exactly my discipline, but closely related: A Theory of Fun by Raph Koster is probably the closest thing to a pop-sci book about game design.

Well-regarded, well-written, and very approachable.

Founded in 1985, Rare is one of the UK’s most historic game developers, best known for Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, and Banjo-Kazooie.

Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002, and it has since gone on to create titles such as Kameo, Viva Piñata, Kinect Sports, and Sea of Thieves under the Xbox banner.

Says it all, really. Rare has been mismanaged into the ground for the past 20+ years.

Sadly(?) I don’t think it was actually made with FrontPage 98 - the source is far too neat and clean!!

Agreed. Permanent hardware bans have been a thing since the PS3/360 era.

I’m not saying it’s a good thing that they can unilaterally disable hardware you purchased (although I certainly understand the reasoning wrt cheaters and pirates) but the author here is acting like the idea is some completely new scheme from the diabolical industry villains du jour.

It’s disingenuous at best.