Heyday for Indy Developers? GigaGamez Checks With Two Top Devs
Reuters thinks independent games are the next big thing. That’s largely due, the article argues, to increasing game development costs for big publishers, and an explosion of digital distribution channels, where independent developers can find an audience. But does this mean it’s boom time for indies? When we checked, a couple veterans of the industry told GigaGamez a slightly more complicated story.
“There’s a rise in interest (and opportunities) for independent game developers,” allows Greg Costikyan, CEO of Manifesto Games, in an email to GigaGamez. (Manifesto’s business and distribution model was recently profiled in GigaOM.) “Digital distribution as an alternative to retail is making it feasible to reach an audience in a lot of different ways,” he adds.
It can also act as a springboard to bigger opportunities. Take flOw, for example. The title — which started as an indy Flash game — was created by 25-year old Jenova Chen. Chen also received accolades for a PC game called Cloud, which he developed while still in college. All this led to his current gig running an independent company from Sony’s offices in Los Angeles, where he ported flOw as a downloadable game for the PS3, to much acclaim.
But so far, the breakout success of flOw may be an anomaly.
“Right now it’s difficult to reach the broad audience with a multi-player title,” says Daniel James of Three Rings. “I do not view XBox Live Arcade or Sony’s PS3 downloads as solving this problem; the overhead involved in porting to these console platforms is out of reach for most indies.”
Still, opportunities abound, especially on a game distribution network like Manifesto, Reflexive, and others.
“It’s not boom time, and it’s still very hard for independent developers to reach a critical level of sales, but the trend is certainly in a positive direction,” says Costikyan. The table is set, the online component is nearly there, and large development costs don’t appear to be coming down any time soon. So even if indy games aren’t in their salad days, it’s a good of a time as ever to be a independent game developer.
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Really, this is the future. Given that all the new gen consoles are now online. The community that plays video games is an online community and craving something new and stimulating; the online distribution model is ripe for adoption and mass deployment. There’s a lot of talk these days about casual gaming and targeting of new, non traditional demographics. Well, it seems the reality of games is that they can and will be played by all, as is evidenced by Nintendo’s current success with the Wii and DS lite products. Independent development allows for attention to a wider spectrum of needs and interests. As the community of independent developers continues to grow and prosper, so will the tools used to produce and bring to market these games. Development costs will drop and we will all have more choice on when, what, how and with whom we want to play – online.