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Can Independent Game Developers Survive?

Posted by timothy on from the sure-they-can dept.

Zanthor writes "Online Gaming - Comments and News has an interesting interview with Scott Miller and Larry Dunlap (Imperial Wars) about their up-and-coming game. While the concept has been around since the old Play By Mail games, their web-based client and world-class art pose the question: Can a small start up group compete with the big name publishers for the Multi-Player money?" EA employs how many people?

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Virgin markets by niker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > Can a small start up group compete with the big name publishers for the Multi-Player money?

    you'd be surprised, at least in the brazilian and portuguese market. It's pretty virgin in the game developing sector, and publishers are keeping an eye out for almost all projects made by "amateurs" in the industry. check:

    http://fozi.no-ip.org
    http://www.truedimensions .net

    TD is under construction :\

    --
    Moderators: Don't agree? pray tell why.
  2. Ever hear of Marketing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As somebody who's been in the industry for 9+ years, I'm going to tell you that you'd better have something so out of the water good (like, Doom, for instance) or noone is going to bother without the massive flood of marketing that the idio-trons have come to count on. I've seen GREAT games made by large companies flounder, due to not enough marketing. And conversely, I've seen sub-par drivel sell millions because of a marketing blitz.
    Independant games can be "successful", in the same way that independant movies are. The majority of them are seen by a few, who love them. But only 1 in a few hundred make any money at all (like Blair Witch or My...Greek Wedding). It's not the fault of the movie (or the game), it's just the average lazy consumer DEPENDS on the magic box to tell him what to buy, wear, watch, etc. Without the voices from the wonderful box, the average person just does not have the gumption to go out and LOOK for whatever it is that they really want. They take the best of what is offered them. Truly sad, but very true.

  3. My Experiences by NeoMoose · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was part of an independant game studio for awhile, but funds ran out and we were done before we ever released our first project. It really is EXTREMELY rough for those of us indie companies to get by. Especially with the fierce competition that has spouted up over the last years.

    The only real indie-type game that has even somewhat made it has been Serious Sam and Gore. And that isn't much. Serious Sam is certainly great but Gore left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.

  4. Indies don't have to compete with the Big Boys by Dave_21-6 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The fact is that most (and I mean 99.9999%) of indie game studios will never have the money or muscle to compete with the big published games. So why try? Why not take a different approach? Why not simply try to produce a few smaller titles and incrementally build up enough of a revenue stream that you can pay your bills? Sell them ESD, but always be on the lookout for partners that will (a) allow you to keep your IP and (b) can get you in front of an increasingly-larger audience (like OEM deals, bargain box retail opportunities, and magazine cover disks).

    This is what our studio is attempting to do, and though it's too early to tell how successful we'll be, we believe it's the best route to a self-sufficient indie studio. Successes like Popcap and GameHouse are inspiring, and give one roadmap to being self-sufficient. Another good example is Small Rockets.

    In our case we are working very closely with GarageGames as our primary publisher/distributor. Between their help teaching us how to handle PR and marketing, their willingness to give advice on how to be successful, and our own attempts at networking, we think we will be a successful indie in the not-too-distant future. A good example of such cooperation was last week's MacWorld in San Francisco, where we helped run an arcade station for GG showing their title Marble Blast and our title Orbz (small, shameless plug). By joining them in SF for a few days, we were rewarded by making several contacts for future game development work and possible OEM deals.

    This is how indies can "compete" with the big publishers.

    Dave Myers

    21-6 Productions, Inc.