Independent Game Studios Talk Tactics

Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing the challenges facing independent videogame studios. The piece explains: "The game industry is moving toward greater and greater consolidation... Increasingly, an independent studio capable of turning a profit from the advances-against-royalties formula is the exception rather than the rule." It goes on to talk to Bill Roper (formerly Blizzard, now at Flagship), Feargus Urquhart (formerly Black Isle, now at Obsidian) and others, with Urquhart claiming independent developers are at no special disadvantage in current times: "I sort of look at it like babies and houses, there probably never is the perfect time to have a baby or buy a house. You just have to decide to do it and then do it."

Comments

my experience

[czcxmag]

I am a small independent game developer who handles 100% of distribution myself. It's not really all that hard, and there are advantages to keeping everything close to home.
Not only do I not have to pay some ridiculous percentage of my profits, but I am 0 steps away from my users.

Put up a decent website with a way of getting feedback from your users (I use the excellent and free phpBB message board). This can also help create a community around your product. If you listen to what they say then your game will get better and better. Another thing that I have done is try to optimize my website for certain google searches.

I can't imagine any paid distributor putting as much thought and effort into such things for one of a hundred small games they are dealing with. By doing it myself I am confident that it is being done well.

Doing this I have seen my game grow from nothing into a steady stream of sales. I'm glad I did it the way I did, rather then trying to go the easy way and get some other company to do it.