It's been a difficult stretch for the AAA game industry, with Electronic Arts, Activision, and Disney all making cuts this month alone. As unwelcome as that news might be, Klei Games founder Jamie Cheng told GamesIndustry International that there's an upside to such moves. The head of the studio behind Shank, Mark of the Ninja, and the upcoming Don't Starve attributed the recent boom in the independent development scene in part to years of struggles at big publishers.

Click to expand...

"With all the changes and layoffs, we're seeing so many new studios come up that are doing these games without the crutch of hundreds of millions of dollars of marketing...I think for sure that the layoffs are fuelling way more development in the small, independent space," Cheng said, noting that he prefers "independent" to "indie" as the latter term carries more potentially inaccurate connotations.

Click to expand...

"I enjoy having the large AAA around because they were hiring and training tons of people, and I can't do that," Cheng said. "We have 30 people and that seems like a lot in the independent space. I can't go out and train a lot of people in development, and that's what they were doing."

Click to expand...

"I feel like last year was when we kinda figured out how to make a game," Cheng said. "We've been bumbling along and every year we've done something and we get better...We finally have a process that I think works."

In some ways, the process has always worked. Cheng said every game the company has released has been profitable, and every one of them continues to make money. It's not like Shank is single-handedly keeping the lights on, but the added cash flow is helpful.

Click to expand...

"The idea of direct-to-consumer digital distribution has been around, but it keeps getting better," Klei said. "And as it gets good enough, you're going to overtake the retail stuff. And that's what's started to happen."

When asked about the potential threats he's worried about for the future, Cheng said he's interested to see what happens with price points for games. He's also curious about the ramifications of the current trends toward preorders and alpha funding.

Click to expand...

kazebyaka said:

He's actually right

Click to expand...

Kimawolf said:

Heh that's definitely one way to look at it. they kick the training boots off once they get fired/laid off.

Click to expand...