The main events of the weekend (June 8-9)
The creators of Among Us have established a fund to support indie developers, MY.GAMES has launched a new publishing label, and the success of Gray Zone Warfare saved its developers from bankruptcy. Here's a rundown of what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.
A scene from the upcoming animated series based on Among Us
- At the Summer Game Fest presentation, Innersloth, the studio behind Among Us, announced the launch of the Outersloth Fund. They acknowledged that the gaming industry is currently facing tough times, and indie developers need support more than ever. The fund is ready to invest between $50,000 and $2 million in games. Outersloth has already signed nine contracts, including with the creators of Battle Suit Aces, Mossfield Archives, and Rogue Eclipse.
- MY.GAMES opened a publishing label called Knights Peak Interactive. It will focus on releasing premium games for consoles and PC. The company showcased three games under this label at the Future Games Show presentation: the cooperative PvE shooter Starship Troopers: Extermination, a side-scrolling RPG reminiscent of Souls-like games called Mandragora, and the platformer Nikoderiko: The Magical World. Additionally, Knights Peak Interactive will now include Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Blast Brigade vs. the Evil Legion of Dr. Cread.
- Marek Rabas, co-founder of Madfinger Games, stated in an interview with CzechCrunch that shortly before the release of Gray Zone Warfare, his company was nearly out of money. By June, they likely wouldn't have been able to pay their staff. Therefore, in April, Madfinger Games took a huge risk and released Gray Zone Warfare on the 30th despite numerous technical issues. Delaying the release meant missing timely payments from Steam. Fortunately, the risk paid off. Within a week, Gray Zone Warfare recouped its development costs, which Rabas said were 10 million euros.
- Diablo IV set a new online record on Steam. According to SteamDB, on the evening of June 9th, 39,782 people were playing concurrently. Its audience grew against the backdrop of celebrating Diablo IV's first anniversary.
