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Comment by seanhunter | Hacker News Reader

For reference, Annapurna Interactive are not a mainstream publisher churning out franchise type games, but tend to publish unique games, some of them considered classics:

- Outer Wilds

- Stray

- Lorelei and the laser eyes

- Cocoon

- Neon White

...and others. https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/annapurnainteractiv...

This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.

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> This is a real shame for anyone who cares about really distinctive, original games.

Is it though? Annapurna is a publisher, they didn't make those games. The games you listed were made by:

  - Outer Wilds: Mobius Digital  
  - Stray: BlueTwelve Studio  
  - Lorelei and the laser eyes: Simogo  
  - Cocoon: Geometric Interactive  
  - Neon White: Angel Matrix

I'm confident that creators of distinctive, original games will be able to find other publishers.

> I'm confident that creators of distinctive, original games will be able to find other publishers.

That confidence is (partially) misplaced. It's a really rough world out there for indie devs, and if you do find a publisher, many times they are not interested in paying as much attention to your title as you are.

they can self publish then. thats always an option.

They can’t self fund.

most publishers dont give money without seeing a fairly elaborate demo. And making games is something that can be done with zero budget unlike endeavors in many other industries.

Outer Wilds was in production for 7 years. Practically nobody can fund years of full time work without some external funding. I don't have any proof, but I am confident that Annapurna poured some amount of money into that venture during those 7 years.

IIRC Mobius Digital got their initial money for Outer Wilds from crowdfunding after a much more limited demo of what they wanted to achieve, then I assume Annapurna came on the scene later when they went professional and needed support for multi-platform. The period where kickstarter was more commonly accepted for game projects is over, and fewer projects could get a similar starting point that lets them spend years on their first release

most games dont take 7 years to make so making a point with outliers is not a very good argument.

Most games aren't good. If we don't talk about the outliers we'll be stuck talking about roblox maps, king.com games, or assassins creed. Everything Annapurna interactive funded was an outlier, that's what made it interesting.

That’s definitely one of those easier said than done things, that someone who’s never tried to do will think.

Publishers have benefits, there’s a reason some game, developers, and other type of media creators will eagerly sign away a big chunk of their revenue. Not true for every media or genre, but there’s a reason these companies exist.

of course publishers bring benefits. but lets not pretend self publishing is not a thing in the games industry.

Nobody said it wasn’t

Exactly, and if you take stray or Neon White as examples, part of the reason they got so much attention was the reputation that Annapurna Interactive had gained by publishing a game as excellent as Outer Wilds. So people took much more notice of those games than they might have done coming from some random indie publisher with no track record. As excellent as those games are, this might have made a very big diference to the traction they got at the start.

Simogo is fully owned by Annapurna.

Edit: Oops, no they're not, see below. But it sounds like they're contractually prevented from working with a different publisher.

It looks like they just have an exclusive publishing agreement with them not owned by them? At least that's what wikipedia says? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simogo

Oh, you know what, I'm completely wrong. I was remembering this blog post from years ago:

https://simogo.com/2020/03/10/simogo-annapurna-interactive-t...

In my memory, this post said "we're now owned by Annapurna." But I read it again and it literally says the opposite.

But yeah, it sounds like they can't just switch publishers.

I didn't know that. I was wondering how a team of only 25 people could make so many games. This makes it less of a big deal in my mind. Sure the publisher can be important in providing funding for games and which games get a marketing budget but they still aren't making them.

Depending on the team that walked, this may be a new opportunity. Sounds like this all happened because they worked pretty well without Ellis, but Ellis would come in every now and then and cause a tornado of everything when she did. There's a name for this kind of manager, but it eludes me.

Shame they lose the name, but the talent is what makes the company. And I'm sure any small dev will be following them closely on their next venture.

As if the "team" will exit together and re-establish as one unit on the other side for the greater good.

How would you define "the greater good" for a publisher of small-medium scaled games?

The benefit was the funding that could be provided by Ellis, no? How are they going to make up for that if they make a new company?

That's definitely the million dollar question (literally). I don't imagine they got all 25 or so staff to resign at once if they didn't have a plan for funding. But there weren't any details about that aspect from what I read (could have missed it).

I imagine well get more developments over the coming weeks on that.

Ah yes, the Elon Musk special. The term you are looking for is “pigeon CEO”[1]: “he comes, shits all over us, and goes”.

[1] https://electrek.co/2024/04/22/elon-musk-pigeon-ceo-former-t...

Joel Spolsky called it "hit and run management": https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/03/23/command-and-conque...

You’re thinking of seagull management, managers who “flew in, made a lot of noise, dumped on everyone from a great height, then flew out again, leaving others to deal with the consequences”. That’s the polite version anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull_management

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull_management : come in, make a lot of noise, shit everywhere, leave

> considered classics

Great games, but all you listed are barely 3 years old – can something that young already be considered a "classic"?

Outer Wilds is an unforgettable game, I have no problem calling it a classic. It already has a community developed to the point that it has a modus opperandi - never spoil anything for anyone.

Its a magical game and the community protects the experience for future players, as its impossible to 'rediscover it' again.

Stray is not made by Annapurna. Its just published by them. Devs can easily find other alternatives. Publishers are everywhere.

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