Thick Thighs Save Lives
Gold Member
'The gold rush is over:' Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon devs say that big Game Pass and Epic exclusive deals have dried up for indie devs
It's not easy to get funding for a new game right now.
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'The gold rush is over:' Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon devs say that big Game Pass and Epic exclusive deals have dried up for indie devs
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
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semiconscious
Member
wow! never saw this comin'...
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Was always gonna happen once MS bought Zenimax and ABK. They have the studios and IP they need now, they don't need to keep funding indies for content in their service.
Makes the indie devs who were cheering on the ABK acquisition look really bad in retrospect, but they should've seen this coming.
Makes the indie devs who were cheering on the ABK acquisition look really bad in retrospect, but they should've seen this coming.
what arrogant trash those developers are, as if they are OWED whatever imaginary monetary support they think they should get.
no one is forcing them to take any deal with Epic or MS.
Seems like the fault is with themselves and their games. If the games cannot stand and sell on their own without being financially supplemented by a third-party game service, maybe they should not be making games in the first place.
no one is forcing them to take any deal with Epic or MS.
Seems like the fault is with themselves and their games. If the games cannot stand and sell on their own without being financially supplemented by a third-party game service, maybe they should not be making games in the first place.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
How many of those indies also tripped over themselves to support the abk acquistion? Writing to the CMA like a bunch of weasels.
Looking prettyish right abot now as MS leaves your ass out in the cold.
Facts. Not all indies were doing that, but the ones who were?
rickybooby87
Member
MILD SHOCK.
I mean, the "free" money doesn't last forever, does it? At some point, you got to tighten the belt and start making the bean counters happy.
I mean, the "free" money doesn't last forever, does it? At some point, you got to tighten the belt and start making the bean counters happy.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
this is where the statement of the Xbox deemphasizing Game Pass comes from.
but you know, Jez and Colt (Big Brain analysts and commentators) just loled.
but you know, Jez and Colt (Big Brain analysts and commentators) just loled.
ComputerBlue
Member
I don’t think the idea of a subscription service is bad when it’s for older games where sales have already dried up, but new releases are just going to cause harm.
Kacho
Member
Don't give me hope
jm89
Member
I'm not completley against it either. Could also be good for games that end up flopping and give some revenue to the devs.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Easy solution for funding.
Like every other industry, walk into a bank and apply for a business loan.
Like every other industry, walk into a bank and apply for a business loan.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
No surprise whatsoever. Their calculation was based on continued massive growth, and its simply not there.
It was always going to end up like this because gaming has grown through becoming more diversified whilst the sub-sectors of interest within it have remained largely plateaud.
The "blue ocean" vision pursued by MS particularly was always doomed to failure because the gaming world is more a collection of archipelogos connected by narrow bridges where only a few people cross.
The upshot was always going to be the destruction of value through perceptually making product more disposable and transient, an effect that was guaranteed to manifest "from the ground up" in the sense that smaller producers would bear the impact first.
Its something that I suspect may have even been planned in to a degree, given what MS seem to be aiming for is owning a tentpole product in every category and binding them together under a unifying brand/distribution umbrella.
It was always going to end up like this because gaming has grown through becoming more diversified whilst the sub-sectors of interest within it have remained largely plateaud.
The "blue ocean" vision pursued by MS particularly was always doomed to failure because the gaming world is more a collection of archipelogos connected by narrow bridges where only a few people cross.
The upshot was always going to be the destruction of value through perceptually making product more disposable and transient, an effect that was guaranteed to manifest "from the ground up" in the sense that smaller producers would bear the impact first.
Its something that I suspect may have even been planned in to a degree, given what MS seem to be aiming for is owning a tentpole product in every category and binding them together under a unifying brand/distribution umbrella.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
I'm actually not ragging on Phil here at all, personally. This probably isn't even his decision.
If anything I'm ragging on the indies who were cheering on the acquisition thinking they would somehow have a better change for GP deals if MS got ABK, when everyone else was telling them opposite would happen. They welcomed their own irrelevance (to getting service deals).
But the loans have to be paid back. MS were giving indies free cash to fund the games that didn't have to be paid back.
Obviously they preferred the GP deals vs. going for business loans.
Pejo
Member
Problem is that game devs, for some reason, are unilaterally fucking terrible at planning, setting realistic goals, and budgeting. I will always look at Shenmue 3 as the penultimate "what the fuck are you doing?" game.
Horseganador
Member
Users accustomed to not paying for games and companies that do not want to pay now to put them in the current service (GP, Epic, etc...) what many of us have been saying for years, that this had no future.
Magic Carpet
Member
That means less and less indy games.
Sequels and remakes and microtransactions are what gamers are willing to pay for.
Sequels and remakes and microtransactions are what gamers are willing to pay for.
Sushi_Combo
Member
That's true. They never should have bet on GP to sustain their finances.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
I hope that's not what it means, because a lot of the innovative game design ideas are going to come from indie and small/mid-scale AA games, not the AAA sequels and remakes (unless it's a remake of an unconventional game...and those almost never get remakes sadly).
Hopefully publishers like Annapurna, Devolver etc. pick these studios up. Hell, Sony need some 1P indies and AA titles in their pipeline and they have suitable legacy IP that could be leveraged with them. So they should consider picking some of these devs up or at least partner with them on new titles for PlayStation.
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Bumblebeetuna
Member
Not surprising when you see all the layoffs happening everywhere. The industry exploded because of COVID and everyone is settling back in. The companies running these sub services don’t need to offer as many deals and don’t want to offer as much money.
bender
What time is it?
Anecdotal sure, but Game Pass, and to a lesser extent PS+, really altered my purchasing habits for indie games. Microsoft did a really good job of securing tons of high profile indie games for day one release on Game Pass. So much so that if I was interested in an Indie game, more often than not, it was on the service and if it wasn't, I just told myself to be patient as they were bound to show up sooner or later. I'm curious what the long term effects will be, if any.
The ebb and flow of indie game support from the big three since the PS3/360/Wii ear has to be maddening. Further, with the amount of games released daily and how quickly knock-offs can be turned around, being in that space must be terrifying from a discovery perspective alone.
The ebb and flow of indie game support from the big three since the PS3/360/Wii ear has to be maddening. Further, with the amount of games released daily and how quickly knock-offs can be turned around, being in that space must be terrifying from a discovery perspective alone.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
ChorizoPicozo
Member
is this news?
Didn’t you people always claim GP devalued games and hurt sales?
Why’s it now a negative for indie devs as MS focuses more on their content pipeline and ID@Xbox for GP?
Despite MS repeatedly saying their long term aim was to beef up first party and published efforts for GP?
Kittehkraken
Member
He was hated years ago. It wasn't until he started throwing around billions that people started liking him.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Because the "GP devalued games and hurt sales" talk was always towards AAA games, not indies. Though even then, some indies were hurt by being in the service Day 1, but those seemed like outliers.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
who is supposed to be this?
…that’s not what this means or implies, though.
I see.
Weird how we had a 6 page thread snarking at MS paying six figures to bring Coffee Talk to GP, but now they’re the bad guys for offering less generous terms these days.
You seemed to get it then, in that thread.
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FalsettoVibe
Member
All the deals on GP were so obviously short term. No company is gonna do things that massively benefit the customer forever. They thought subscription growth would solve their eventual problem but that growth has stagnated.
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
If it’s a choice between GP having day one exclusives and bigger titles for free, or a giant bunch of lower priced indies, I’ll take the bigger titles.
I’d much rather save $ on star field $70, or get burned by paying out of pocket for a $20 indie title that sucked.
I’d much rather save $ on star field $70, or get burned by paying out of pocket for a $20 indie title that sucked.
Unknown Soldier
Member
LMAO so just like what happened with streaming TV services huh
Did retards and shills really think Microsoft was going to pay them to play games for free forever?
Did retards and shills really think Microsoft was going to pay them to play games for free forever?
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Bro that link is busted, takes me to a blank page.
Six figures for a small little indie game is dumb, though. But MS were probably willing to do that when they were desperate for exclusive content. Now they've got Zenimax and ABK, they don't need the indies anymore (at least, that's how they feel).
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
So wait, indie devs are sad the MS isn’t chasing after them anymore with game pass deals?
ChorizoPicozo
Member
No?