Ninja Theory: it’s a ‘brutal environment’ for indies

For real? In a new year where Nintendo’s WiiWare project draws dozens of mainstream and independent developers and where former mainstream developers unite to erect new indie studios, is the independent developer scene still as cut-throat as it was last year? Ninja Theory‘s Nina Kristensen, co-founder and chief developer, believes it is. More at the full story.

 
Ninja Theory‘s co-founder Nina Kristensen said in an interview that the scene for independent game developers was a “brutal” one, though the UK-based developer didn’t seem jaded at all. In fact, in that same interview, Kristensen revealed that a new video game title was being honed for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and Ninja Theory – an independent game developer itself – was pulling out all the stops to make it a “triple-A blockbuster.”

There’s no denying that back in 2007, there was the occasional acquisition of independent game studios, and at the same time, long time and short-term indie participants in the mainstream gaming segment were also reported to have closed shop.

“It’s a brutal environment out there for an independent, particularly considering the size of the games that we’re developing,” said Kristensen.

True enough, indie mainstream studios had to deal with big budgets, little finances, and troubles with distribution and marketing. The only way to survive in the mainstream was to have wads of cash or get picked up by someone or some company with a huge bank account.

Without the moolah, they were forced to shut down permanently. It all pretty much gets summed up the way Telltale‘s Kevin Bruner tells it: games are just too big. Luckily for Ninja Theory, their big game project and their studio is in good hands now.

“But we’ve now signed up the new game and the future looks pretty rosy for us,” added Kristensen, though the question still looms: signed with whom? They aren’t willing to share that bit of info just yet.