Ka-pi96 said:
Staying independent isn't always an option though. Don't know the exact situation for Bioware but if they accepted a buyout from EA of all people it may well have been because they had some financial issues and couldn't have survived without it. Besides, they've pretty much done the same thing over and over at EA anyway, so MS couldn't have been any worse in that respect. Maybe the negative reception of MEA will finally get them to make a new IP again rather than continuously going back and forward between DA and ME. |
The issue with staying independent is manifold. For one, a lot of studios have little in the way of a "war chest" or "rainy day" fund to sustain themselves while seeking independent investment or other means of funding. They exist from publisher to publisher. Second, many are not structured for opperating out from uder the auspices of a major corporation. They don't have the positions and management structure in place to run the company indepdently. Lastly, a lot of game developers just are not business people. A lot of developers are similar to a small business owner in that they get into this business cause they like what they do not because they want to run a business. Most developers lack the management and financial skills and the business acumen to run a business themselves, they depend on the publisher to handle the business side of things. Being indie dev doesn't just mean developing games independently, it means being a businessman yourself as all that stuff is put in your hands. Most devs aren't trained for that and don't *want* to deal with it.
