Intro – The Opportunities and Challenges of the COVID19 Pandemic

Pandemics are scary. They loom over whole nations and economies like the specter of death. They make the wheels which make society turn grind to a screeching halt.

A pandemic cannot be reasoned with. It cannot be argued with. It cannot be negotiated with. It has no agenda, nor a will of its own. It’s a single-cell organism, barely alive, and its only robotic impulse is to make more of itself by destroying every living thing it finds.

Pandemics are utterly indiscriminate in the communities they devastate, the lives they destroy, and the people they hurt. That’s what makes them so terrifying.

The last time the world with a pandemic on this global scale was during the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918. A century later, in our own globally connected world, pandemics of this size bring with them all sorts of other related problems.

I’m referring here to the fact that about half of the major world governments have shut down the economy, placed comprehensive restrictions on all non-essential travel in or out of their borders, and mandated that all citizens abstain from leaving their homes unless necessary or get shouted at by drones.

Not least of all, the pandemic has major implications for the video game industry, both good and bad.

The pandemic has no end in sight. With it comes fear, turbulence, and panic, but it also comes with heretofore unseen opportunities and a silver lining of optimism.

To talk about how to make the most of the situation and to navigate the crisis, I reached out to a prominent indie game critic (who also does pinball in her spare time), a fellow indie game marketer, and the organizer of the biggest game developer networking meetup in the SF Bay Area.

Here’s what they have to say.

Cathy Vice (a.k.a. The Indie Gamer Chick)

Cathy Vice a.k.a. the Indie Gamer Chick is one of the most widely-read indie game critics on the internet. She writes with a combination of caustic wit, brutal honesty, and biting, sarcastic humor.

She gave me the push I needed to make my blog a reality and start writing about indie games again, which led to my review of Subnautica last year. I frequently come to her for blogging advice and she’s always been highly supportive of my work.

Indie Gamer Chick is a longtime champion and evangelist of the indie game developer community. Gamedevs often consult with her for her extensive knowledge on the business side of game development.

She also happens to be extremely intelligent, outrageously funny, and an all-around cool-as-shit, badass woman. You should follow her on Twitter and tweet Howard Hughes/Aviator memes at her.

QnA with Indie Gamer Chick

Me: Steam saw 23 million concurrent players in March, surpassing all previous records. Meanwhile, Twitch saw a 20% increase of hours watched in Q1, over 3 billion hours of content.

It seems as though, more people are playing games online than ever in the weeks since the pandemic became serious in March. How can independent game developers take advantage of this situation and reach new audiences?

Indie Gamer Chick:

I don’t think the strategy has necessarily changed. Indie developers always have an uphill struggle getting eyeballs on their product. A developer can’t half-ass any aspect of marketing their product. It starts with the point of sale, where they need a catchy, memorable name for the game, carefully-selected screenshots, and trailers that cut to the chase instead of jerking-off for the majority of their runtime. All of that has to click with gamers just to keep them on your store page for more than a few seconds. The average person spends less than 15 seconds on a Steam page. You have to present your game in a clear, desirable way.

And then you have to get the word out on social media. You can’t just spam a trailer with twenty influencers tagged in the tweet and cross your fingers. It’s best to tailor each message to the individual influencer. A lot of successful developers say that making the game is only half the work. If you’re breaking into gaming, getting people to play your work will be harder than the development ever was, but the effort is worth it.

Me:

In Italy, one of the epicenters of the global coronavirus pandemic and one of the countries that were hit the hardest, smaller game development teams and indie game studios were able to adjust to lockdowns and quarantines relatively smoothly. Many of them were already working in remote-first environments before the pandemic escalated.

Meanwhile, it’s the larger game companies that are struggling the most to adjust. Productivity is down. Major releases are being delayed or postponed until further notice. Teams are struggling to create new processes and adapt to video conferencing technologies.

We can extrapolate from this that the startup-like faster pace, smaller team structure and digital work environments of indie gamedev teams are allowing them more flexibility in adjusting to the new circumstances caused by the epidemic.

What should major publishers (Warner Brothers, Adult Swim, Annapurna Interactive) who work with indiedevs take away from this? What should they be doing to enable productivity, foster team communication and facilitate development and launch cycles during the remainder of the crisis? What, in other words, should they be doing to best help indie game developers?

Indie Gamer Chick:

I don’t really think developers should feel a pressure to push harder during this crisis. While statistics show gameplay time has increased, there’s no evidence to support that game sales are going to be up in a way where anyone is missing out. As this goes longer and cost-of-living budgets get stretched further, people will be spending less and less on stuff to keep them busy at home.

Also, gamers in the modern, digital age always tend to have backlogs. I’ve seen it during this, where my fans and readers tell me this is a chance to knock out games they’ve had sitting around. And ultimately, your game is done WHEN IT’S DONE, and not a moment before. Maybe this crisis provides more time to work on projects from home, but there should be no added pressure to produce. This shouldn’t alter development cycles for indie devs or change how they work with others.

Me:

Previously, many game developers and studios would go to industry events and conferences in order to gain more visibility and make deals with publishers and investors. This year, E3 2020 has been canceled and GDC has been postponed indefinitely. I had friends who were going to go to GDC to show off their projects, volunteer and network.

How can game developers get the business connections and funding they need to be successful in the era of COVID? What should they be doing now that industry events are no longer an option?

Indie Gamer Chick:

The one aspect of game development that will probably be affected by the Covid-19 crisis is crowdfunding. I’d probably not recommend launching a campaign during this. Again, incomes are going to be stretched. But, beyond that, you don’t really need the ability to network in person. The vast majority of my industry friends and contacts I’ve never met face to face, and probably never will. I know dozens, if not hundreds, of indie developers who have never met anyone from the companies publishing their games in-person. I think if you’re to the point where you can make a viable game, you’re probably capable of using this newfangled information superhighway thingy to make contacts and pitch your game to publishers.

Me:

The short-term benefits of the Coronavirus are that more people are turning to games as a source of entertainment as they spend more time indoors. Looking towards the future, indiedevs are fearful to take risks and pursue new projects.

They anticipate that publishers will be holding on to their money to prepare for a recession and that crowdfunding sources like Patreon and Kickstarter might be their way of getting seed money.

What should game developers be doing in the face of this uncertainty? Go full steam ahead on their projects or put them on hold?

Indie Gamer Chick:

Well, I don’t think anything related to Covid-19 is a “benefit” but rather more of a “silver lining” to an otherwise grey cloud. Again, besides running crowd-funding campaigns, I don’t think anyone should be delaying anything. Developers just need to be smart about it, pace themselves out, and be mindful that stability might be off in the distance. But, for the creative-minded out there, this could be a good chance to work on their projects. Just be smart about it. Even if you have nothing else to do, you can still burn out. Take time for yourself and your loved ones. Watch the Shining too. Excellent documentary about a creative person stuck inside with people who succumbs to the pressure of being creative.

Me:

What else should indedevs know or be prepared for in the months to come?

Things are bad. For everyone. How can game developers make the best of it? Is there any pathway to success in their current scenario? Any other final thoughts?

Indie Gamer Chick:

Things WILL get back to normal eventually, and you’re not a failure if you don’t “take advantage” of this situation. Everyone has a perfectly valid reason to have other things on their mind besides their personal projects. Nobody should feel any pressure to walk out of this thing having achieved a net-gain in any aspect of their life.

If you’re making games and didn’t accomplish a lot towards your development during the Covid-19 outbreak, so be it. Maybe that’s for the best. Some people might not want to, years into the future, look at their body of work and say “and that’s the game I did while stuck in my house for six months during the worst global pandemic in generations.” For others used to working from home full time on games, their work is probably business as usual. It’s okay for creative people to take a moment and ask themselves “is my creativity firing at all cylinders right now?”

For a healthy game community, I think the best thing we can ALL do is whatever keeps us happy and safe. If that’s making games right now, I can’t wait to see what you came up with. If you’re a dev with your mind somewhere else right now, that’s fine. Perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. I’m more concerned that the community makes it through this as human beings and not makers of products. These are my friends first and foremost, and we’re all in this together no matter what our roles are. That’s where our focus should be.

Tavrox

Tavrox a.k.a. The Communication Mercenary is an indie game marketer based in Toulouse, France. His process for influencer marketing for indie games later became the basis for my first case study.

Tavrox is an expert on marketing communications in the gaming space, particularly with regard to influencer marketing for indie games. I consider him a thought leader on the subject.

In 2017 he wrote an article about How to Find Influencers for your Game. As a student at General Assembly’s digital marketing course, I came across his article and decided to replicate his process. As a result, I made a space RPG $10,000 in a two-day span from a test list of 50 people.

That campaign remains one of my life’s greatest accomplishments to this day. In the years since then, I went on to intern at fast-growing startups in the tech sector and become the in-house SEO expert at a consumer electronics corporation. When I introduced myself to Tavrox a year later, he connected me to other indie game marketers on Discord.

It is not an understatement to say that Tavrox’s knowledge, hard work, and capacity for empathy is the foundation on which my success is built. Plus he’s just a genuinely really nice guy.

He currently works at Goblinz Studio. His latest game Neurodeck also just went up on Steam, pending a full release at the end of the year. I recommend you wishlist it like I’ve done. Seriously, I’m not just saying that because we’re friends. I got a glimpse of the trailer. It’s frigging awesome.

QnA with Tavrox

Me: “How can independent game developers take advantage of this situation and reach new audiences?”

Tavrox: There is definitely a big increase in the number of players, yet we don’t know what they are looking or playing. Are they playing more AAA? More indie games? We haven’t seen a significant boost in our current games during this time frame, but bigger studio also took this opportunity to massively put their games on big sales. It’s hard to know what the impact really is, as long as we don’t have everyone’s data!

I would say players are looking for multiplayer, casual experiences they can share with anyone. A lot of players will be discovering new or old games they can share with their “lockdowned friends”. I’ve seen it around me: we want games we can share with more casual players, games like Don’t Starve, Overcooked or Counter Strike GO.

Me: “What should major publishers (Warner Brothers, Adult Swim, Annapurna Interactive) who work with indiedevs take away from this? What should they be doing to enable productivity, foster team communication and facilitate development and launch cycles during the remainder of the crisis?”

Tavrox: It’s funny because we had a very big publisher UX team come to us and ask for feedback about this. They genuinely wanted to know how we do it! Goblinz Studio has always been remote and we have a strong revenue per employee.

I think it’s not limited to game developers, but everyone comes to understand you CAN work remote (in tech at least) if you’re really willing to do it. Listen, I get it, you don’t want to put new process and disrupt everything! But now you do have a good excuse to try new things and get accustomed to it.

There is no special recipe but the main component is trust. Numerous studies have shown people who work from home work more, better, but also with a better flexibility. They don’t have to spend hours in traffic. They save the planet by not taking the car.

Publishers should all understand how to streamline their process and have a 100% remote-able team, that don’t rely on physical availability of people. It’s about making people more independent and give them more power do actually do their work 🙂

Me: How can game developers get the business connections and funding they need to be successful in the era of COVID? What should they be doing now that industry events are no longer an option?

Tavrox: I would say it’s easier today: everyone is at home, with more time on their schedule.

Physical connections are indeed important but they were also very privilege-focus. You had better connections when you were a wealthy European or American close to tech locations.

It’s important to acknowledge that by making more digital-events, we will have a better diversity of people that can actually attend those events.

People in business or with money are still there! They haven’t disappeared! You just need to research them online and contact them with even greater pitches. This time, your smiley face won’t seduce them!

Me: What should game developers be doing in the face of this uncertainty? Go full steam ahead on their projects or put them on hold?

Tavrox: That’s a very good question actually! As a publisher, we’re still unsure how things will fold out, but we still need to get the ball rolling. Limiting releases also means limiting or not using our cashflow properly.

We have a society where stacking money is rarely the best option (at least when you pay your taxes). So I’m not too worried about that, I think we still need to wait a bit and see how things are evolving.

Me: Things are bad. For everyone. How can game developers make the best of it? Is there any pathway to success in their current scenario? Any other final thoughts?

Tavrox: Things are bad, but there is a new whole lore to explore: pandemics.

People will be interested about learning, playing, hearing about this biiiig event that happened to most of us.

I think there is something to ride on about telling the story of this worldwide event in future games.

Also we need to acknowledge this is the best event that could happen both for society and nature. Nature is regenerating from the lack of pollution. Our society is getting under scrutiny because of the numerous injustice around healthcare and poverty. This can also be a great start for a new future.

Jedd Goble

Jedd is an iOS app and game developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

His latest release is Gravity Dash and he is currently developing a game called Missle Panic. He is also the host of the Oakland Game Devs Meetup group.

You can follow him on Twitter or visit his website here.

Me:

“How can independent game developers take advantage of this situation and reach new audiences?”

Jedd:

Definitely a more captive audience right now. Streaming is a great example — with more gamers flocking to Twitch it’s an opportunity to promote indie games to a wider audience. One way to do this is to partner with streamers who already have a following and have them play your game.

Social media is also more active in general. Now might be the time to run ads promoting your game.

Me:

What should major publishers (Warner Brothers, Adult Swim, Annapurna Interactive) who work with indie devs take away from this? What should they be doing to enable productivity, foster team communication and facilitate development and launch cycles during the remainder of the crisis?

Jedd:

We’re lucky to work in an industry where work can mostly be performed remotely. I think this is going to be an important moment for larger companies to realize that physical office space was only part of the puzzle and that allowing their employees and partners more flexibility is best for both parties.

Me:

How can game developers get the business connections and funding they need to be successful in the era of COVID? What they should be doing now that industry events are no longer an option?

Jedd:

Yeah definitely, GDC being postponed was a bummer. There’s nothing like networking in person — that part is really hard to mimic digitally. As such it’s going to be harder to stand out from the crowd. A few ideas off the top of my head:

Use video to your advantage, such as an enthusiastic and creative pitch for your game.

Focus on cultivating a social media presence — publishers like to see that you’ve put time into building your own audience.

Don’t just spam links on Discord and social media. Put time and thought into how you present to the specific audience for each platform.

Consider early access if you’re working on an unreleased game. With more downtime, people will be more likely to spend time with your game, so it makes sense to take advantage of this while it lasts.

Me:

What should game developers be doing in the face of this uncertainty? Go full steam ahead on their projects or put them on hold?

Jedd:

You mention that publishers may be more stingy, but I think it makes sense for devs to still pitch their games through this if that’s the path they want to go. Above all else, include metrics and prove to the publisher that your game will turn a profit for them. This is more important than any other part of your pitch.

Regarding crowdfunding, while it may make sense to run a campaign right now, I think the platforms in general are becoming more saturated, leading to less visibility. Plus, many gamers have lost faith in backing games, as many of those have ended up in development hell and never see the light of day. As such, I’m hesitant to recommend crowdfunding to most game developers.

Me:

What else should indiedevs know or be prepared for in the months to come?

Things are bad. For everyone. How can game developers make the best of it? Is there any pathway to success in their current scenario? Any other final thoughts?

Jedd:

Best way to prepare for the coming months: Stability is the name of the game. If you can afford to go full steam ahead on your game, by all means do so.

But keep in mind that no one really knows how long shelter-in-place will last. If you need to pick up contract work or a full time remote position for the time being, that path likely makes a sense for a good chunk of developers.

Jordan Schuetz

Jordan is a developer advocate at MuleSoft and an indie game developer. He is also the organizer and host of the SF Game Development Meetup group, the largest networking event for game developers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I first met him at one of their original meetups at Twitch HQ in downtown San Francsico. In the months since I’ve met many valuable connections at his monthly meetup group and learned a lot from his guest speakers. It’s an indispensable resource for the local indie gamedev community.

Check out his new game Meme Run 2, set to release later this year. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Me: It seems as though, more people are playing games online than ever in the weeks since the pandemic became serious in March. How can independent game developers take advantage of this situation and reach new audiences?

Jordan:

As an indie, now’s a great time to get started on your side projects if you have any extra time due to the stay-at-home order. Even though the pandemic has caused a large surge of activity in the online gaming community, game developers shouldn’t really do anything different from what they did previously when it comes to development and marketing. Focus on building an online community of advocates, create an epic video game trailer that creates excitement around your title, and make sure that your title is available on as many platforms as you deem fit to reach the largest market share.

Additionally, consider making your price point something that people can afford during this difficult time. I see indies make the fatal mistake of making their games cost too much money.

If you are unhappy with how many sales you are getting, there could be two limiting factors causing you from reaching your fullest potential: marketing, or the actual game concept itself. If you have a good game, people will buy it if it’s marketed correctly and is a fair price. There are plenty of good games out there that don’t get large download numbers due to a lack of marketing and community excitement.

If you have spent all this time developing a game, make sure to spend the time to get it in front of as many YouTubers and Twitch streamers that you can find. The YouTube and Twitch community is a great way to see if your game is going to be a hit or failure. If it’s a hit you will see YouTubers making content around your title which is essentially free marketing and exposure for your title.

Me:

What should major publishers (Warner Brothers, Adult Swim, Annapurna Interactive) who work with indie devs take away from this? What should they be doing to enable productivity, foster team communication and facilitate development and launch cycles during the remainder of the crisis?

Jordan:

If you are self-publishing, I’d highly recommend finding a contractor on UpWork that fits your needs. If you are struggling to get connections during the COVID crisis, Discord and developer forums are a great place to find the resources you need to be successful. Finding a publisher for your video game has always been a challenge since you will have to stay to very strict guidelines around game design and monetization. If you are opting to go that route, make sure to find a deal that works for you.

Me:

How can game developers get the business connections and funding they need to be successful in the era of COVID? What should they be doing now that industry events are no longer an option?

Jordan:

I’ve been running the most-attended game development meetup group in San Francisco for the past few years now, which has always had a monthly cadence of in-person, live events from the get-go. Now that COVID has required everyone to shelter in place for safety, we have taken our group completely online, to Discord.

Discord has been a great platform to communicate with the game development community, and we highly recommend joining servers focused on game development.

If you are looking for specific questions regarding development, the Unity Forums usually always have the answers to my questions when I am running into different game development hurdles. If you have any interest in joining our Discord server, feel free to join here and join our live in-person meetup group here once everything returns back to normal.

Me:

What should game developers be doing in the face of this uncertainty? Go full steam ahead on their projects or put them on hold?

Jordan:

I feel that now is a great time to go full steam ahead, finish up with development, artwork, etc and get a working build done. If you are planning to release your game during this uncertain time, keep in mind that consumers are less willing to spend money due to financial insecurities.

If you are shooting for a holiday release date in 2020 however, now is a great time to get everything in order so you can focus all of your energy into marketing and community building at the end of 2020.

Me:

What else should indiedevs know or be prepared for in the months to come?

Things are bad. For everyone. How can game developers make the best of it? Is there any pathway to success in their current scenario? Any other final thoughts?

Jordan:

Take this time to focus on yourself, family and friends. Build relationships and open up the doors to artists and other developers who might have extra bandwidth to help you with your project.

There are a lot of people right now who are looking for work, so the best thing you can do is provide business opportunities to people who want to get involved. I’m currently working on my own video game Meme Run 2 which is set to release later this year in 2020. This game would have not been possible without the support of my artist, sound designer, and other game developers who have jumped on board to help me where they can.

The most important pathway for success is to focus on your game 50/50. 50% development, 50% marketing. You should have an equal amount of focus on each aspect as an indie. Additionally, listen to product feedback and ask your fans what they want to see in the game.

Don’t take criticism negatively, focus on making something you are happy with and make sure that you make the changes you see fit to make fans happy. I kept everything quite brief in this article, but if you have any further questions please feel free to reach out to me via Discord or Twitter. Thanks again, and good luck to the game developers out there making awesome games. Keep it up!

Conclusion – Pandemic Takeaways

With changing times and unprecedented circumstances come new unforseen opportunities for game developers, but only for those gamedev studios with the flexibility, resourcefulness and wherewithal to acclimate to the new ways people are consuming digital products and engaging with others online.

However, they will only be successful in this if they’re able to find new ways to manage their team’s productivity, reach new audiences, find new ways to communicate and new ways of doing business.

Coronavirus is the planet’s way of making us all realize something that younger generations have always known deep down but that we are no longer able to ignore, and that is this:

Like it or not, the fact of the matter is that the world is changing, fast. The old way of doing things doesn’t work anymore. It has been proven to not work. Only those who are capable of finding new ways of doing things and then adapt to them are going to survive what’s to come.