Indie

On April 4, the global release of Buckshot Roulette took place. This is a horror game from an Estonian solo developer, which immediately resembles the narrative of Inscryption and the creations of Yoko Taro.

Buckshot Roulette is a new horror game by Estonian solo developer Mike Klubnika, known for his experimental titles. It offers a terrifying twist on a game of Russian roulette, which, in combination with additional mechanics, creates a strong hook.

It has always been difficult for small developers to get funding, but now the situation has become even more gloomy. In an interview with PC Gamer, the creators of Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon stated that indie teams were paid less for an exclusive release in the Epic Games Store and Game Pass.

It has always been hard for smaller developers to get funding or make sure that their games don’t flop in the oversaturated market. However, things could get even bleaker, with Xbox and Epic Games reportedly cutting the size of deals they are offering.

We continue the cycle of publications about games that require investments or a publisher. Next up is material from the Russian indie studio Dieselduck, which is developing a game about traveling on the airship "Nephelia: Through the Clouds".

Valve has published a list of the most played games on Steam Deck over the past 12 months. While it is full of evergreen hits, there are also a few relatively fresh titles that have managed to make it to the top.

It appears that a group of indie studios have decided to join forces for a mysterious collaboration. The so-called Triple-i Initiative brings together studios behind games like Vampire Survivors, Darkest Dungeon, Slay the Spire, and more.

Good news. Despite the crisis in the industry, new gaming companies are still emerging. Emanuel Palalic and Garrett Young have announced the launch of a new studio. It's called Emptyvessel. This is the second such announcement in the last 24 hours.

A new AAA studio started by industry veterans has emerged. Emptyvessel, led by former id Software, Naughty Dog, Gearbox, and Activision developers, bills itself as a developer-founded, developer-first company.

It’s always great to see indie games succeed in the market. Backpack Battles, an auto-battling RPG with an interesting hook, is doing really well on Steam right now, exceeding the expectations of its creators.

Balatro has been a smash success for solo developer LocalThunk. The poker deck-building roguelike has reached a new milestone, selling over 500k copies in 10 days.

Together with the Game Finder business partner search service, we continue the cycle of publications about games that are looking for investments and publishers. Next up is material about the Russian studio Aeroplan Games, which is preparing to release a game dedicated to the culture of the Altai Republic.

Who are indie gamers and what do they like the most about these titles? Humble Games, publishing arm of Humble Bundle, has conducted research to answer these questions and better understand the audience.

Microsoft will let go Toys for Bob, one of the many studios it acquired in the record-breaking Activision Blizzard deal. The team, known for series like Star Control and Skylanders, will become independent again.

While Helldivers 2 continues to dominate the Steam charts, several new indie games managed to break into the top 15 last week. Not to mention the impressive jumps in sales of some already successful older titles.

Stardew Valley has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing 30 million copies sold globally. Here is how the figure compares to other successful indie games.

What is the difference between an indie approach to game development and a business one, - Alexander Myasishchev, director of Nau Engine, told in his column for App2Top.

The Voronezh agency Weloveplayers, which previously engaged in promotion on social networks and work with gaming media, announced a change in positioning. Now the agency is talking about itself as an indie game publisher.

On January 11, 2024, the distribution of Sail Forth, an adventure game offering to surf the ocean on a sailboat, started in the Epic Games Store. The distribution led to a huge increase in the game's audience.

WN Media Group has shared the data summing up its latest conference for game developers in publishers, which took place in Serbia last week. It was attended by industry professionals representing companies such as Larian Studios, Riot Games, Saber Interactive, Sperasoft, Two Desperados, Ubisoft, TapClap, and Wargaming.

A new day, new results. Next up is an interview with Pavel Prokonich, CEO of HeroCraft.

Another sad news in a series of reports of mass layoffs. The Danish indie team Triple Topping is closing four years after its founding.

With all the job cuts and studio closures, 2023 has been a rough year for developers of all sizes. Danish indie team Triple Topping has unfortunately joined the list, announcing that it had to lay off its entire workforce.

In a world where more than 1,000 games are released every month, even quality titles run the risk of not recouping their development costs. Here are the lessons indie studio Pixelsplit learned from the launch of its theme park sim Indoorlands.

We continue to summarize the results of 2023 together with the game teams. Next up is an interview with Anton Mikhailov, creative director of the indie studio Tortuga Team.

We continue to summarize the results of 2023 together with the game teams. Next up is an interview with Ilya Maksimenko, founder of the FlyinDogs indie studio.

Despite many great releases, 2023 hasn’t been all that good (to put it mildly) for people making games. Here are the prevailing sentiments among developers about the current state of the market and the possible future.

Shortly after Valve announced the OLED version of Steam Deck, its handheld PC has become the top-selling product on the store. Here are all the notable shifts that have occurred on the charts over the past week.

The cooperative horror Lethal Company, created by a lone developer Zeekerss, has become a hit on Steam. It took the third place in the chart of the highest-grossing premium products on the site for the last week.

On October 27, two indie developers Joe Henson and Joure Visser released the horror DON’T SCREAM for early access on Steam. In a conversation with gaming expert Simon Carless, they talked about the success of the game.

Roguelite survival/mining game Dome Keeper has managed to spawn a new wave of interest from users a year after its launch on Steam. Here is how the latest update impacted the title’s metrics.

Thronefall is a minimalistic urban planner with Tower Defense elements. Indie studio GrizzlyGames, consisting of only two people, shared the success of the game in a conversation with gaming expert Simon Carless.

Indie developer David Szymanski, best known for his work on games like DUSK and Gloomwood, has shared some thoughts on Game Pass. He believes that the dominance of one subscription service could hurt the indie games market.

Canada-based indie developer Sabotage Studio has just released Sea of Stars, a turn-based RPG in the style of classic Japanese titles. Let’s take a look at its launch numbers.

Magic shooter Immortals of Aveum has just been released globally. The initial metrics for the AAA game, developed by Ascendant Studios and published under the EA Originals program, don’t look promising.

Consultant and experienced developer Rami Ismail has shared his thoughts on the state of the games industry, while expressing some fears and concerns. He tried to outline the issues of the existing system where funding decides what gets made.

Gwen Foster, who is engaged in business development at indie studios SUPERHOT Team, Well Told Entertainment and Sad Owl Studios, decided to help colleagues from other studios. She posted a sample presentation online for pitching the game.

The founder of the studio UnifiQ Games Seyed Nasrollahi (Seyed Nasrollahi) compiled a table with investors and publishers of indie games for consoles and PCs. There are 150 companies in it.

Microsoft has celebrated the 10th anniversary of the ID@Xbox program. In honor of this, she shared a number of numbers.

Last year, independent Kazakh studios made games more actively than indie developers in any other countries. The number of new games from indie studios in Kazakhstan increased by 115.7% compared to 2021. This was reported by Unity in a recent report on the gaming industry.

The Canadian Dynasty Loop has not paid its employees and contractors since January, four employees of the indie studio told the Polygon portal. To date, the company’s debts exceed $2 million.

The organizers of the Indie Cup competition told about plans to launch the Ukrainian Games portal. They want to collect all the information about Ukrainian games and developers in one place.

Take-Two‘s “daughter” named the Private Division Development Fund. She said that the foundation will offer independent developers financial assistance and advice, but they will have to publish the games themselves.

Such data was shared by game marketing expert Chris Zukowski. He analyzed the revenue of paid indie games released on Steam in 2019.

One of the most striking indie games of the past year, many industry publications recognized Unpacking, a cute game that reveals the story of a girl through the things she carried through life with her.

RedManta Games and Sonar Studios have announced a merger. Now they will work under the name Twin Atlas.

The fund is called the Indie Games Fund. Small teams (maximum 50 people) who have already released games on Google Play or on another platform will be able to receive investments from it.

videogamedunkey stated that he has been making videos about video games for more than 11 years and has played a lot of titles during this time. He considers the launch of an indie publishing house to be a “harmonious continuation” of the YouTube channel.

Jeronimo Barrera, a former vice president of Rockstar Games, also joined the board of consultants of the platform.

The South Korean company announced that it will support local indie developers who want to enter the global market. Kakao Games will invest in them through a fund created by Kona Venture Partners.