Alright I can’t sit on this any longer.
— Danno (@danno_omen) April 2, 2024
Exclusive: I spoke to the slay the spire and darkest dungeon studio heads to clarify their remarks from last week.
“It wasn’t a game pass specific comment” #Xbox read it all here: https://t.co/DlLown3inJ
"I thought it (the article) was going to be about lack of funding in general to be honest" Yano said when asked.
"The money is just harder to get, the big platforms aren't being as speedy and the size of deals have come down. It's not that there is NO money, or that funding is an impossibility, but publishers and platform holders are being much more conservative."
"My gold rush comment was meant as an overall appraisal of the indie funding situation – as I said, deals are more difficult to line up, their average size has diminished, and many companies are facing layoffs." says Bourassa.
"There were some VERY good deals at the onset of Epic Games, which is what I was pointing to, not Game Pass" says Yano
"Yeah, those deals have dropped in value. Game Pass deals are a bit more nebulous as there's little data out there, a lot more hush hush. I know of two studios who locked great deals though (last year)."
While the industry is shifting, and opportunities for indies are dwindling, that is the real concern for both right now and is what they want the message to be.
"It's not meant to be a game pass specific comment. Investment in games is down by a lot in the last 12 months, if not clearly evidenced by the shuttering of several small studios. A lot of publishers have backed out of deals, gutting large teams. That's just facts". Says Yano
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PCGamer really is just tabloid trash nowadays, might as well be Daily Mail's Gaming Column, UK Tabloids would be proud.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 03 April 2024
