In a climate where it seems as though there is a new controversy, accusation or disappointment every other day, the unabashed and uncompromising attitude of smaller studios has been trail blazing the way for the previously unfounded acclaim of indie developer. Arguably, no one studio has proven their devotion to this brazen indie attitude than Devolver Digital. Speaking with GamesIndustry, Devolver’s Graeme Struthers discussed the publisher’s unquestioned dedication to its principles, fans and vision.
Known primarily for titles such as Serious Sam and the utterly delicious Hotline Miami, Devolver Digital boasts a collection of titles that easily rival that of corporations ten times its size. The studio is adored by it’s following for it’s consistent quality and integrity, a trait that becomes rarer by the day in the industry. Attending this year’s E3, Devolver showcased many of its unique upcoming titles such as BroForce, Hotline Miami 2, Titan Souls and some honestly insane looking high-school pigeon dating sim, Hatoful Boyfriend.
“Devolver is six people. We don’t see it as a brand or that we have any particular values to be promoted, we’re all friends who’ve worked with each other before,” Struthers remarked, “this is as big as it gets for us, there’s no plans to change that.”
Devolver is closely linked with Gathering of Developers, a studio, that much like theirs, intended to bridge the gap between publishers and independent developers. Several founding members of Gathering play key roles in Devolver Digital, channelling their original message in a new way.
“The ethos of Gathering of Developers was kind of the opposite of most other companies of that time: that developers should always retain their own IP, that it was never a deal point. So all those Gathering developers had their own IP. When the idea of Devolver was forming, we reached back out to all those developers because we knew they could bring that IP with them – that they’d retained all the rights.”
The studio have made their loyalties very clear, putting a smile on many gamers faces’. The PC market has suffered somewhat in recent years, with many big studios having failed to cater to the faction almost entirely. PC gaming, as opposed to it’s sister console market, represents freedom in gaming, and continues to be arguably the most player centric and controlled division of the industry, throwing it into a natural disfavour with big publishers that endeavour to take advantage of it. Struthers commented on Devolver’s relationship to the struggling PC market saying, describing it as the company’s ‘natural home’.
“We start off with PC every time. It’s PC and Steam. Without Steam we don’t exist. Even if we blow up and are successful on Microsoft and Sony, even if they get really big in the indie scene it still wouldn’t get anywhere near what Steam represents, so PC is our priority, every single time.”
Despite this, Devolver is indisputable in it’s support of consoles. The studio has made a place for itself on both Playstation and XBOX, and is intimately concerned with the success of the market, regardless of it’s priority with PC. Struthers, in tune with the feelings of the majority of gamers, was visually passionate about the unsavoury turn the industry has taken as of late. Dropping professionalism in favour of raw passion, he said,
“The other thing I really like about what they’ve done is, thank f***, I was so fed up of people telling us we should do free-to-f***ing-play, in-app-f***ing purchases, whatever the f*** that is, and that consoles were dead. So f*** all of those people and their f***ing sh**ty stance. I don’t really engage a lot with the industry, but I went to one of these BAFTA things and these people were lecturing the audience about why we should all be going in that direction. I was sat there thinking ‘f*** you’.
I think the majority of us can get behind Struthers’ words here. Although free-to-play and microtransactions are not an inherently bad thing, the way in which these game models have been forced down the throats of those inside the industry is truly hideous. It’s almost rare to find a new release AAA title that doesn’t offer you the chance to get ahead in some way for extra cash – and as I said, it’s not always bad, but it’s starting to feel as though players that aren’t interested in microtransactions are punished it. The playing field is beginning to feel incredibly tilted, as the presence of pure, unadulterated marketing is felt in all aspects of so many games, serving to not only ruin the immersion of the game itself but also leave life-long gamers feeling disconnected from the industry they’ve grown up with.
