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Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda (www.ign.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

79 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Affected devs:

Arkane Austin (closed)
Tango Gameworks (closed)
Alpha Dog Studios (closed)
Roundhouse Games (absorbed into ZeniMax Online Studios)

These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Because the indie space is also a graveyard. Investors are increasingly wary of funding anything but a “guarantee” and plenty of studios have had to shutter because the funding they were promised was rescinded.

Maybe gaming has become too bloated as a concept if no company can ever produce a product with their own money any more, instead always listening entirely to investor cash.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So... only independently wealthy people should make games?

Game dev takes time. The way you shrink that time is to do it full time instead of working on it in your spare time for a decade or so. Because of increased cost of living, the ability to just take a few months off and burn your savings is increasingly not viable.

That is where investors come in. Whether it is a kickstarter campaign (NEVER PRE-ORDER!! RAWR!!!!), a venture capitalist, or a major publisher. And all of those have consequences.

But, increasingly, it is only the major publishers who are even trying. And they are increasingly selective of who they try it with. NoClip have been making an indie game as a way to better understand the market and they have a SPECTACULAR video where Danny O'Dwyer talks about his experience pitching the game to publishers and what kinds of responses they get. And it is really telling that he gushes over how nice one publisher (I think it was Humble?) were in that they actually responded and said they couldn't move forward rather than just ghosting him.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago (1 children)

the ability to just take a few months off and burn your savings is increasingly not viable.

Universal healthcare would help here.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sure but that's only a piece of the puzzle. Housing, food, and general living costs are so insane now that any decent savings would be obliterated much more quickly. UBI would be a better solution here, but that's almost a pipedream at this point.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The idea is that the biggest barrier to entry for small business and entrepreneurship is healthcare.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Um I disagree. The biggest barrier is having the capital to do the thing. I think a number of states have a reduced/free option if your income is below the poverty line (calculated as having low or negative income in the startup phase, not necessarily based on assets), or being lucky enough to have a spouse with healthcare. That said, it's entirely doable to go without healthcare, albeit risky. I started a contracting company 3 years ago with almost no money and the tools I had from my apprentice/jman years, and still don't have health insurance, though I'm hoping to get some later this year.