As a game studio - a developer rather than a publisher - it’s very much hand to mouth. You are paid by the publishers on delivery of milestones. Milestone reviews can sometimes be subjective. You’re basically the lowest link in the food chain and can be subject to a publisher’s whim, which can often be a bit random depending on your external producer. Keeping such a studio open in the long term is about chasing new contacts, and any gaps between contacts is expensive because you aren’t generating any income, but are having to pay wages. One or two project cancellations can easily shutter an independent developer.
In some cases studio owners may simply want out, or they might legitimately see a sale as bringing stability to the studio… Or it might just be greed. But I think it’s hard to say whether a studio would have a safer long term future being independent or being sold.
Making game is extremely risky gamble. Sometime studio can spend years working on one game and it might result in subpar sales due to element that’s not in their control, like Spec Ops: The Line. Take Obsidian Entertainment for example, over the year we kept hearing how they’re financially struggling despite created some of the best RPG, and Microsoft acquisition suppose to free them from this issue to some degree. Same with Tango Gameswork. Zenimax and to some extend Mojang is different case though.
Lot of game studio open and close, if Tango doesn’t sold to Bethesda and in turn to Microsoft, it might already closed. Though on the flip side it also mean they’re at the mercy of their parent company, it still undeniable that Microsoft is the one killed them in this case.
Because a lot of studios, like for example Double Fine, sold because they couldnt pay the checks anymore, its stupid trying to blame the studios or people that sold the studios, the blame is not on them.
What are you missing without it? If you don’t missing anything, I wouldn’t bother. The Nitro Deck seems to add back buttons for example, but they’ll probably be limited to simple button mappings, nothing fancy like you could do with Steam Input for example.
Xbox Series X controller with added ExtremeRate back paddle kit.
For PC games:
og Steam controller
Most of the time I use the Dualsense Edge though, because I rarely use controller on pc and almost never turn on my Xbox.
I play most of my 2d games on purpose built retro handhelds, so there’s no real separate controller to speak of, but I do love pretty much all of them in different ways.
I really wanted to like the OG steam controller but the touchpad-joystick-analogue makes it basically impossible to play any of the games I’d want a controller for. It’s a great controller for using on things that aren’t really intended for controller. Want to play an FPS leaning back in your chair? It’s great for that. Want to play Hades? I’m gonna pass and plug in my dualshock instead.
I actually revisited it recently and gave it a second shot after getting used to the steam deck pads, but unfortunately it’s still not really doing it for me personally.
Phob gcc. The best stick box ever constructed with Hal effect sensors. Genius button layout with a larger primary button surrounded by secondaries. Swap to spicy sticks and bald buttons for added grip and fluidity. Add mouse click z and paracord cable for the perfect, best feeling, most responsive controller. The best part is that it is all open source and can be built for around $50 worth of parts
People do talk about this. At least, they do in the game industry. It's well known that when an independent studio gets bought (usually by a publisher they have been working for), this often results in the studio closing down a number of years later unless they crank out hit-after-hit. Of course, sometimes that doesn't happen and the studio gets more stability and more financial support, now that they are part of a larger company.
In regards to the people who sell their studio (founders), it's important to keep in mind that for most of these people, selling their studio while the studio is fairly popular results in life-changing wealth. Maybe selling the studio and becoming rich by doing so was not their original goal, but it should be no surprise that studio founders can be very tempted to sell the studio (at the right price). Owning an independent studio can be a gigantic amount of stress, and a huge financial reward that also allows the founder to simply get rid of all the headaches and stress is nothing to sneeze at.
Everyone who works at an independent studio knows the risks involved (to their own job eventually, if the studio is sold), and they often have mixed thoughts on what the founders are doing, but they don't all demonize the studio owners, since they would be tempted by the same potential rewards if they owned the studio.
Couldn’t participate in these threads for a while, because it would have been the same game over and over again. But now I’m finally free! I beat Baldurs Gate 3 with a 150+ hours resist dark urge run.
I started Immortals of Aveum as a palate cleanser. Pretty decent FPS with a cool story and lots of secrets.
I’m about 60% through Ori and the Blind forest. Its curently scratching an itch I have for metroidvania games.
However, I learned that instead of patching the original game or releasing a DLC, they just made a re-release and im not buying the game a second time just for a new area and some improved QoL with fast travel.
I’m further behind in Ori but I’m enjoying it greatly. I’m not a big metroidvania aficionado, but I played and loved Hollow Knight despite it’s difficulty (some of the bosses really tested my tolerance for punishment). I appreciate that Ori is (so far) a more accessible game.
Watcher Knights I think are near the top of my list. I just rewatched my recording of beating them and I was fumbling so badly lol. It’s obvious I’m running with the “pure desperation” tactic rather a more skillful approach, but it finally managed to work out.
I was addicted to exploring that world but I am satisfied with the one playthrough I think.
My wife was playing Ori around its release, we both got stuck on the first tree escape, where it floods. Absolutely massive difficulty spike for a relatively chill game to that point. Beautiful game though and I love the sound track.
Still World of Warcraft and won't be stopping for a while. I'm mostly finished with the gazillion different campaigns of the Dragonflight expansion, although as I said before, I've skipped all quest text and cutscenes, so I have no idea what the story is. Then, I've run through a few dungeons, some with friends, but it's kinda meh right now. Lastly, I've spent a lot of time doing Pet Battle related stuff. I'm doing the different dailies, so I can get the currency to buy more pets, or went back to old expansions to unlock some zones I've never been to, to capture missing pets. There are a couple of hundreds I'm missing, although I'll have to look up how to get many of them, since it's not just finding them in the wild or going to a vendor.
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