The publisher of Manor Lords believes that the current turmoil in the gaming industry is due in large part to corporate desires that conflict with the reality of game development.
In conversation with GamesIndustry.bizSnow Rui, CFO at Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, was one of many independent publishers to speak out about the wave of layoffs that have rocked the industry over the past two years. “A lot of the cuts and unrest are coming from public companies; ‘changing corporate priorities,'” Rui said.
“I think there is a certain tension between publicly traded companies’ desire for predictable, quarterly and annually increasing revenues and the reality of game development.” That reality, says Rui, is “fundamentally unpredictable in both timing and outcomes.”
In other words, big corporations want to make the same (large) sums every quarter, and that’s not really how game development works. Bigger cash flows will come around release and sales periods, but it’s hard to predict what will succeed and what won’t. Manor Lords – a smash hit despite its niche genre and because it was largely made by a single person – is a perfect example of how success can come from anywhere. The same is largely true of failure, but that’s not something that really has a positive impact on the bottom line of big corporations and their shareholders.
This could be bad news for indie developers, but Rui points out that it could also be bad news for publishers themselves, as developers can simply decide to go out on their own. “Self-publishing and the knowledge needed to do it have never been so accessible,” she says. “Publishers really need to prove their worth and offer good terms, because self-publishing is not a bad alternative right now, and that’s how it should be.”
Hooded Horse, it should be noted, seems to be a notable exception to some of these concerns. In April, when Manor Lords was climbing Steam’s wishlist charts following its release, the company’s CEO Tim Bender told GamesRadar+: “We can ignore profits when we should. We’re not a non-profit or anything, but everyone agrees that’s not the only motive.” This philosophy meant the company could afford the delays it needed to get Manor Lords out in the best possible condition. Not every company would give a game that much space, but if Rui’s prediction that self-publishing is more attractive than ever is correct, that might not matter for too much longer.
Bender is also a fan of self-publishing: “If I had a game, I wouldn’t sign with 90% of the publishers“
