Investment money is not as plentiful as it was several years ago. I’ve heard it in several interviews with developers or devs themselves. (Game Maker’s Notebook, Mike and Rami are Still Here, and a few devs on YouTube come to mind.)
It also doesn’t take hundreds of people to make a good game anymore, just a dozen or so good employees (sometimes less). Big studios struggle with justifying their existence with graphics and scope creep. Then, more often then not, management shoves it full of microtransactions or refocuses the game to hit whatever’s hot this second. Which often leads to a polished turd of a game.
When you look at the big hits over the last 10 yeas, less than half of them came from big publishers and big studios. With less every year. It’s just not a model that works anymore.
Shouldn’t indy studios be springing up everywhere?
Investment money is not as plentiful as it was several years ago. I’ve heard it in several interviews with developers or devs themselves. (Game Maker’s Notebook, Mike and Rami are Still Here, and a few devs on YouTube come to mind.)
It also doesn’t take hundreds of people to make a good game anymore, just a dozen or so good employees (sometimes less). Big studios struggle with justifying their existence with graphics and scope creep. Then, more often then not, management shoves it full of microtransactions or refocuses the game to hit whatever’s hot this second. Which often leads to a polished turd of a game.
When you look at the big hits over the last 10 yeas, less than half of them came from big publishers and big studios. With less every year. It’s just not a model that works anymore.