bit-tech published an editorial discussing the benefits of being an Independent Games Developer

There are a lot of crushed souls in the games industry. A lot of people who set out with the hope of creating fantastic new games that allow them to express their creativity, whilst simultaneously providing a great experience for the players. These are the people who were cut deepest when publisher’s pull the budget on the “risky” titles in favour of the “safe bets”. These are the people who lost a little more hope each time the producer told them that their idea was way too ‘out there’ for a modern audience.

We knew people like this when we set up Introversion and we run into them now and then in the bars and restaurants surrounding the games conferences.

When we first set out to write video games we knew the damage that publishers could do both to games themselves, and the people writing them, and we were not willing to let that happen to us. In order to ensure our creative freedom, we had to be independent from publishers and license holders, and that independence has become a guiding mantra for us.

Independence from publishers has allowed us ultimate freedom and enabled us to create without compromise, explore without boundaries and live by a work ethos that isn’t about setting limitations. After six years with the sole aim of keeping the company financially afloat, we did a spot of team building or as industry bods call it, ‘vision alignment’. We wanted to establish in what direction we might all be heading. Despite the fact that we’re a fairly disparate bunch of people with very different motivations, the exercise really proved that remaining independent was the key shared aspiration at Introversion.

Staying Independent