Indivisible CEO: Industry Has No Room For Mid Tier Games, Only ‘Very Small Or Really Large Games’

Indivisible dev Lab Zero Games reemphasized in their AMA the many different ways they need the game’s Indiegogo crowdfund to succeed, with an astounding revelation about mid tier games like it.

While the studio has seen great success funding and developing indie fighter Skullgirls, they are having trouble getting their sophomore effort off the ground. Whereas they were able to raise $ 828,768 over the $ 150,000 base goal, to continue Skullgirls development after litigation kept them from getting funding from a publisher, their current Indiegogo stands at $ 645,337, out of their $ 1,500,000 goal.

But of course, the circumstances are much different this time, as head developer Mike Zaimont went to bat to explain how much games actually cost. As he’s pointed out, many other crowdfunding campaigns, most notably Bloodstained, did not even need the money, and went this route to gauge interest.

Mike then went on to explain that for their campaign, the game really costs $ 3.5 million, and 505 Games committed to fund the $ 2 million only if they can raise the rest. Mike also broke down the costs honestly, citing covering full salaries of employees, and paying for localization, testing, marketing, etc.

On today’s AMA, Lab Zero CEO Ravidrath, AKA Peter Bartholow, and designer Earl Gertwagen, had the most interesting insights about what they did with Indivisible before they went the Indiegogo route.

As it turns out, Lab Zero shipped their game around multiple publishers. They settled on 505 Games for providing them the best deal, and they settled into the deal quickly, although in real time it took six months. And yes, they did talk to Valve, but for some reason those discussions went nowhere.

Lab Zero is willing to do everything to make the current Indiegogo succeed. If things don’t work out, they might try shipping Indivisible around again, but it’s more likely they’ll seek other work and shelve it for now. Lab Zero points out most of the business folks in game publishing companies come from a marketing background and would also not see the value of their project.

It goes beyond that. Peter flatly states that publishers are not willing to take the risks they would have taken ten, even five years ago. Because games are getting expensive to make, and the business is generally unpredictable, they only want to make either very small or really big games. So, budgets under $ 1 million, or over $ 25 million.  As Peter puts it, clearly, the industry currently has no room for mid-tier games.

How do you feel about Peter's statement? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. Indivisble is planned for release on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One by 2018. You can watch their trailer above and fund them here.