Nearly a quarter into 2024 we were already served news of further unfortunate layoffs within the video games sector. According to Kotaku, at least 6,000 industry professionals were impacted across publishers, developers, and other video game-related companies. Most of us thought that what happened in 2023 wouldn’t carry over to 2024, but it seems we’re not quite out of the woods just yet.
Acorn conducted marketing research on the performance of AAA and indie game development studios during the early part of this year and the results we found were interesting. Major game development companies are cutting costs and preparing for a period of reduced profitability, which, unfortunately, includes staff reductions. Of course, while it’s indeed devastating for the people affected, we have aimed to look towards opportunities that may arise from such a downturn.
We are witnessing a shift in the game industry, which has traditionally maintained AAA titles at its core. Indie games have grown in numbers as work-from-home hobbyists took the opportunity during COVID to turn their time towards new skills. With AAA projects not as sustainable as expected, layoffs have subsequently seen ex-devs turn their time towards freelance projects, too. The result? The second Indiepocalypse. This shift is just the beginning, and people are likely to demand more changes in the industry as time goes on.
AAA titles are of course typically priced higher than most indies with giant scopes and huge teams accounting for heavy overheads. In the rush to meet deadlines, some sprawling campaigns can feel less polished than the handful of indie darlings that get wider notoriety, leading towards mismatched expectations across the industry. These expectations hinder not just the indies, but the larger titles too, as games industry professionals spread their roles across the breadth of the market.
In our research, we found that 40% of consumers buy 1 to 5+ indie games per year and tend to consider buying indie games as part of their identity, a note supported by gamesindustry.biz. Indie buyers also tend to have a broad preference in genres compared to AAA buyers.
The indie game space represents the most promising arena for the types of clients we’re eager to help. With a diverse set of requirements, indie developers know that without the weight of a larger team behind them, a scalable solution for marketing, funding or PR is the most valuable asset available to them during this period of uncertainty.