People loudly proclaiming that indies should "just" self publish and start their own studios: are you "just" going to bankroll that and "just" going to help with the setup, legal, HR, etc etc ect? This is not a "just do X" scenario for the majority of developers. - ThreadSky

heyitsdora.com • 7 days ago

People loudly proclaiming that indies should "just" self publish and start their own studios: are you "just" going to bankroll that and "just" going to help with the setup, legal, HR, etc etc ect?

This is not a "just do X" scenario for the majority of developers.

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velvetcupcakegames.bsky.social•6 days ago

"Just self-publish! What, no, I never crowdfund games." (I say this as a self-pubbie who did crowdfund. I'm in a fortunate situation that many are not.)

adamcoster.com•7 days ago

Yup. And most games don't recoup their costs. So you need a multi-year runway of funding to try to get a couple of games out in addition to managing all the business overhead and trying to establish bizdev relationships for a brand new studio. It's already hard WITH an established company.

augh3d.bsky.social•7 days ago

just is probably flat out the most load bearing word in the language

i am so guilty of this word abuse myself

dirtbagboyfriend.bsky.social•7 days ago

As a self published indie (with a dayjob to allow it): I am so tired lmao

charleskiptin.bsky.social•7 days ago

I'm not complaining.

gamedevmicah.bsky.social•7 days ago

But ya can… just don’t follow me on how 🫣😓😫

harrypujols.com•7 days ago

Game devs should produce crypto pyramid schemes. Much easier than games.

rockleesmiletv.bsky.social•7 days ago

Reminds me of all the Americans with no immigration experience saying "just move to another country" or saying they're gonna "just" do that...

heyitsdora.com•7 days ago

As someone who IS an immigrant to the US, I get to have fun conversations about that, too :)

rockleesmiletv.bsky.social•7 days ago

And I both had an immigrant wife I sponsored as an American and recently moved to Ireland. People are so confused about how immigration works!

froshadowing.bsky.social•7 days ago

In my perspecitve "self publishing" doesn't equal "starting your own studio". Self publishing for many happens while having a full-time job that finances their game projects. It takes at least (!) a couple of such projects to get some passive revenue for a small team to turn into small company.

froshadowing.bsky.social•7 days ago

If the team is smart with how they invest the tiny budget they have, and how they scope future work - they can get more than a publisher would ever give them.
HR, legal and set up cost are relevantly low in EU - IF you know where to source them.

froshadowing.bsky.social•7 days ago

And there's another business model: the publisher covers 100% of dev costs for a few years until the team secures a new publisher and project. It’s low risk since the publisher bears all of it—except when you can’t find a new publisher. Revenue from projects alone can't feed them after rev share.

froshadowing.bsky.social•7 days ago

E.g. a studio can decide to pay 6000 Eur for US-registered trademark for a game title alone.

OR they can also start with paying 600 Eur for a trademark in their EU country. And once they are sure the game will be out 100% and they have money - they can pay 6k for US trademark too.

heyitsdora.com•7 days ago

Sure, but again, this assumes a lot, and is very broad in a way that won't apply to many developers. Working a full time job means less time for game development, which means a longer development time/release schedule, which means longer until revenue comes in, assuming they have funds TO invest.

heyitsdora.com•7 days ago

Often if someone is working a full time job, they aren't always getting enough to invest in game development. They're covering the cost of living, whatever that may mean for them. So those costs you're citing are still BIG unattainable costs for many who are busting their butts trying to get by.

heyitsdora.com•7 days ago

A lot of devs working full time are living hand to mouth. It's not a matter of being "smart". It's a matter of not having the basic finances to invest in the things they need to get started and off the ground even at that base level. It's not a universal situation.

froshadowing.bsky.social•7 days ago

It's a fair point, and totally relevant to the completely inhumane state of our industry.
But take our small project (Kvasir) for example. Out of 3 "founding" members, only 1 has full-time employment. Yet we still manage to get by - we do most of the work ourselves, and we avoid doing what we can't

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