Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    The Grave Long-Term Effects of the Gaza Malnutrition Crisis

    August 1, 2025

    Bing made Google dance and then stole some search traffic

    August 1, 2025

    Everything we think we know about the Google Pixel 10 phones

    August 1, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » How the Developer of ‘Among Us’ Is Helping Indie Studios Survive Gaming’s Current Tumult
    Games

    How the Developer of ‘Among Us’ Is Helping Indie Studios Survive Gaming’s Current Tumult

    News RoomBy News RoomJuly 7, 20243 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    In 2020, two years after its release, Innersloth’s social deduction game, Among Us, was the world’s most downloaded mobile title. It brought in millions of dollars and gave the developer not only the cash necessary to stay afloat but enough to help fellow indie companies get their own games off the ground. With Outersloth, a new fund Innersloth announced earlier this month, the company set out to help them escape the hazards of the traditional publishing cycle. Now the initiative is poised to do a lot more.

    Outersloth is far from the first of its kind; others, like Indie Fund and Moonrise Fund, also focus on giving smaller creators backing. But it’s arriving at a time when the game industry is more tumultuous than it has ever been. In the past year alone, thousands of jobs have been lost and studios big and small, from Arkane Austin and Pieces Interactive to Die Gute Fabrik, have shuttered. Even smaller developers like Tango Gameworks that are acquired by big companies aren’t safe; Microsoft shut down Tango in May.

    While many companies are tightening their budgets, Innersloth is expanding. Outersloth is Innersloth’s effort to make the industry at large a more sustainable one, says Victoria Tran, the company’s comms director.

    “Outersloth is supposed to help indies who want to be self-sustaining and just need a little push,” Tran says. “Give them the opportunity to succeed and, hopefully, make enough on their next game that they don’t need to go back into the cycle of finding funding and a publisher, because it can be quite exhausting.”

    Innersloth’s longtimers know this well. Smaller studios face problems that the bigger developers don’t. Sometimes they lack experience; sometimes they make games that are weird or experimental and don’t look like big hits for would-be investors. Developers seeking small sums for their games also may not seem worth the attention of financers. Even Among Us in its early days couldn’t find funding. “There are so many games that need to be made or deserve to get made,” Tran says, “but there’s just no real funding out there for them.”

    Outersloth doesn’t have hard and fast rules about who it will help, although it will say no to blockchain or AI games. Its model is very hands-off. No one from the company is asking to give notes on the games it backs. On its site, it described the pitch for Clickholding—a project announced this week from developer Strange Scaffold—as “such an unhinged and unsettling story it made an entire room erupt.” To the Outersloth team, it had the makings of a good bet.

    Deals like this, Tran says, can help indies avoid the kind of bad contracts that she and her colleagues have seen during their time in games. Similar to the advances that many recording artists get for their first albums, there are often stipulations in those deals that make it hard for smaller game studios to recoup their costs. So even once they get some buy-in, they’re not out of the woods; they still may find themselves paying for marketing and giving chunks of their profits to publishers. “Once a game is out, you do want to at least have some of the cut of the revenue when it releases—or else you can’t survive as a studio,” Tran says.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleWhat to expect at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in July
    Next Article How to Choose the Right TV

    Related Posts

    Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship

    July 31, 2025

    The Tiny Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition Is Affordable Retro Fun

    July 28, 2025

    A Surprise Pokémon Game Just Dropped for Switch and Mobile

    July 24, 2025

    Life Without Screens: This Camp Is a Teen’s Worst Nightmare

    July 24, 2025

    Mix Up Your Gameplay With Our Favorite Controllers for the Switch 2

    July 23, 2025

    This Is the Commodore Comeback Fans Have Waited for—but the Odds Are Still Against It

    July 22, 2025
    Our Picks

    Bing made Google dance and then stole some search traffic

    August 1, 2025

    Everything we think we know about the Google Pixel 10 phones

    August 1, 2025

    Measles Cases Are Soaring in Mexico

    August 1, 2025

    Uber’s Drive to Become the Kleenex of Robotaxis

    August 1, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    News

    Microsoft is killing off Windows 11 SE, its Chrome OS competitor

    By News RoomAugust 1, 2025

    Microsoft is ending support for Windows 11 SE next year, five years after it launched…

    Samsung TVs are coming back online after apps stopped working

    August 1, 2025

    The Inside Story of Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin

    August 1, 2025

    I Tried 10 Different Mouth Tapes. Here’s What You Need to Know (and Which to Try)

    August 1, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.