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News VGDunkey announces Bigmode, an indie game publishing label

Party Sklar

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Yesterday, youtuber VGDunkey has announced Bigmode, a publishing company focusing on indie games, via a strange video. We'll see where it goes, but they're claiming on their website to offer "developer-friendly" contracts, so there's that, at least.

 
Would have preferred if the video talked more about what they will do rather than focusing so much on talking about the YT channel. I guess if his celebrity reach is the main appeal then that's that, but IDK if I'd want to make someone my publisher just for that. But I'm not a game dev, so eh
 
Would have preferred if the video talked more about what they will do rather than focusing so much on talking about the YT channel. I guess if his celebrity reach is the main appeal then that's that, but IDK if I'd want to make someone my publisher just for that. But I'm not a game dev, so eh
At the moment it comes across like he thinks publishing consists of just endorsing a game (literally says his brand is like a sticker of approval) rather than what it actually entails like marketing, certification, localisation and whatnot.
 
At the moment it comes across like he thinks publishing consists of just endorsing a game (literally says his brand is like a sticker of approval) rather than what it actually entails like marketing, certification, localisation and whatnot.
On his website he says they offer:

Funding
Development support
PR & community management
QA, porting & localization
Merchandising

Also says he's looking to work with games that are still just in the pitch stage. So I'm wondering why the video focused on so little of that.
 
On his website he says they offer:

Funding
Development support
PR & community management
QA, porting & localization
Merchandising

Also says he's looking to work with games that are still just in the pitch stage. So I'm wondering why the video focused on so little of that.
I saw that, though didn't see anything about how big his team is. The video makes it sound like it's just him and his wife so I have no idea how they expect to do all that, for multiple games, by themselves. Maybe he has some deals with external companies to aid with that, but then you'd wanna see some names there so you know he's not just getting some rando with DeepL to translate your game.
 
On his website he says they offer:

Funding
Development support
PR & community management
QA, porting & localization
Merchandising

Also says he's looking to work with games that are still just in the pitch stage. So I'm wondering why the video focused on so little of that.
Feels more like this is Leah's venture TBH, and he's attached mainly for name recognition. Despite not being impressed by the searing hot takes by some devs on Twitter (some of which are kinda petty really) I think the announcement video wasn't optimal, and Dunkey's jokey persona isn't directly suitable for being the face of a publisher (many people initially thought this was a joke).

I'm in the wait and see camp - I hope they have some very knowledgeable people working for them. In that case a well-known and liked personality like Dunkey could do some good in the indie dev space. If it's mainly the two of them though they're going to get overwhelmed by the amount of response, publicity and potential workload in no time flat.
 
I saw that, though didn't see anything about how big his team is. The video makes it sound like it's just him and his wife so I have no idea how they expect to do all that, for multiple games, by themselves. Maybe he has some deals with external companies to aid with that, but then you'd wanna see some names there so you know he's not just getting some rando with DeepL to translate your game.
Yeah if it's just him and Leah then I don't see how they can operate at the scale they're implying. They have a networking page where people can list their skills and presumably be matched up with indie devs looking for those skills. So I don't know if they're hoping to just sort of act as a go-between and connect devs with actual PR people, QA people, Porting and localization people, etc or what.
 
Cool to see someone like Dunkey branching out and trying something like this. Will it succeed? I have no idea, probably not. But I respect the ambition.
 
With someone so full of himself as the head of the operation it's hard to imagine this turning out particularly well. Video shouldn't inspire confidence for anyone.

Maybe during this venture he can hold in the urge to sling around slurs though; would help with the professionalism i'd think.
 
This was a really weird announcement, at times difficult to tell whether it was a parody or genuine. That even people who are familiar with his content had a hard time parsing this video is pretty telling.

Beyond the obvious issue of the "I play a lot of games so I know how to make your game better" corniness, I have some ethical reservations about him potentially featuring games he has a stake in on his official channel. Could get pretty ugly.

I think Rami Ismail is pretty on the money here:



There's nothing in that video that instills much confidence that they actually know what they're doing.
 
Finally a publisher that only publishes GOOD games! Why hasn't anyone ever thought of that?

It's already been done

Jaleco_logo.png
 
The proof will be in the pudding - obviously publishing is a lot of work and can have an impact on how games do so I hope for the developer's sake that this ends up doing well.

I don't want to be too harsh on something unproven but reeling off very popular and well known indie games to prove his indie cred and that he has a nose for finding great indie games, and then insinuating that something like Frog Detective is a 'spam game' (he placed footage of this game over him saying that comment) rubbed me the wrong way. I get that not every game will help with every person but it's factually wrong to claim it's spam. Certainly won't endear his company to some devs with things like that.
 
I work in the non-profit tech space and I see stuff like this a lot; folks with money and good intentions trying to make a difference with passion rather than expertise. it can work out if you surround yourself with people with tons of experience in the field, are honest/self-aware of your ignorance and use it as motivation to learn. but often times it ends up with a lot of money being unnecessarily wasted
 
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This was a really weird announcement, at times difficult to tell whether it was a parody or genuine. That even people who are familiar with his content had a hard time parsing this video is pretty telling.

Beyond the obvious issue of the "I play a lot of games so I know how to make your game better" corniness, I have some ethical reservations about him potentially featuring games he has a stake in on his official channel. Could get pretty ugly.

I think Rami Ismail is pretty on the money here:



There's nothing in that video that instills much confidence that they actually know what they're doing.


Does any starting small-business know what they're doing?
 
I've had so many shits that I've slowly learned the ins and outs of toilet repair, but I suppose that's a bit off topic
 
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This was a really weird announcement, at times difficult to tell whether it was a parody or genuine. That even people who are familiar with his content had a hard time parsing this video is pretty telling.

Beyond the obvious issue of the "I play a lot of games so I know how to make your game better" corniness, I have some ethical reservations about him potentially featuring games he has a stake in on his official channel. Could get pretty ugly.

I think Rami Ismail is pretty on the money here:



There's nothing in that video that instills much confidence that they actually know what they're doing.

That's a quite level-headed thread for Rami standards (haven't followed him for a while, maybe he's doing better personally), and I completely agree.
 
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Would you go to a plumber whose sole credentials are "I've had a lot of shits in my life"?

Very comparable.

The concern is, they seem to be getting way over their heads, and devs will have to put a lot of faith in them that they won't screw things up and ruin a project that's potentially taken years to get off the ground.

Lots of small businesses fail, but you have to start somewhere, right? The video reiterates that they want to smart small and help talented indie developers by putting their promising projects in the spotlight. Quite a lot can and will go wrong, but why cite 'ethical reservations' for something that is literally true for the countless number of new small businesses out there that may start for any number of reasons and from any level of experience. And any fledgling game developer "putting a lot of faith" in a company that has literally just broadcast that they're new to this will be taking on their own risk and not be completely blameless if things go wrong.
 
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Honestly? It's like a 10 year old wrote this pitch. Dude demonstrates a minimal understanding of anything meaningful, or pertinent to the act of publishing a game. He just... knows how to make silly commentary on highly popular video games, is what I'm getting from this. If I were a smaller dev looking to move forward with a publisher, I think my last choice would be the dude whose only claimed experience with the indie sphere are games like Cuphead, Hollow Knight, Hades, and Celeste. The overwhelming majority of indies (games in general, actually) will never reach that level, unfortunately... and for the ones that do, the journey to reach those heights is brutal, obviously.

I think it'd have been better for him to establish, first and foremost, that he's actually committed to helping smaller developers through their inevitable struggles, hardships, and stumbling points, versus giving off the impression that he's only looking for a smooth, easy ride to the next critical and commercial darling. It'd be like a new film studio selling themselves by saying they're looking to make the next Titanic... yeah, I'm sure you are, and you're certainly not alone!

I'm no game dev, so maybe I'm off the mark, but I feel like there are quite a few red flags here, and that this will, ultimately, end up a short-lived venture. Regardless, hopefully any devs opting to go through publishing with Dunkey's company end up in a good place.

Shout-out to Alpha Beta Gamer, a YouTube channel dedicated to showcasing all sorts of interesting looking indies, rather than just the surface level hits.
 
The video listing things like Celeste, Goose Game and Hollow Knight as examples of... the impact of Dunkey's recommendations?... is quite funny given those were universally hyped, high profile indie games.
 
I like Dunkey but this feels like it’s doomed to fail. His qualifications for this is “I played good games like Hollow Knight and Celeste, so I know what a good game is”. Okay? So have a lot of people. That’s basically saying “I’ve eaten alot of food, so I know what good food is. Trust me to run your restaurant.”

Plus do indie devs really want to trust the guy who shat all of the Unity engine in his Yooka Laylee video, only to go and praise Cuphead a few months later, another unity game? The dude clearly doesn’t know a ton about game development, why trust him to fund your indie game?

IDK, he seems passionate about this but passion can only go so far when money is going to be involved.
 
It's ok guys (and gals), just don't show him any jrpg inspired indie games and it's all going to be fine.
 
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I like Dunkey but this feels like it’s doomed to fail. His qualifications for this is “I played good games like Hollow Knight and Celeste, so I know what a good game is”. Okay? So have a lot of people. That’s basically saying “I’ve eaten alot of food, so I know what good food is. Trust me to run your restaurant.”

Plus do indie devs really want to trust the guy who shat all of the Unity engine in his Yooka Laylee video, only to go and praise Cuphead a few months later, another unity game? The dude clearly doesn’t know a ton about game development, why trust him to fund your indie game?

IDK, he seems passionate about this but passion can only go so far when money is going to be involved.

I just re-watched that review and the only quote on Unity is: "They announced they're using the Unity engine, which is the engine they made the fucking Donald Trump game with", so can you clarify what you mean here?
 
I just re-watched that review and the only quote on Unity is: "They announced they're using the Unity engine, which is the engine they made the fucking Donald Trump game with", so can you clarify what you mean here?
I'd say summing up the entirety of the Unity engine as "the engine they made the fucking Donald Trump game with" could be classified as "shitting all over it"
 
Why are we trashing dunkey (honest question). To me he falls into the category of edgy humour but w/o real toxicity.
Having seen his twitter or stances on social issues I felt he was generally positive (pro dev, anti Trump, etc)

I heard something about slurs - haven't heard anything but would like some context if someone can provide :)

Bear in mind I am not one to whitewash people that are actually toxic - I was in the "screw Pewdiepie" camp long before it was cool.
 
Why are we trashing dunkey (honest question). To me he falls into the category of edgy humour but w/o real toxicity.
Having seen his twitter or stances on social issues I felt he was generally positive (pro dev, anti Trump, etc)

I heard something about slurs - haven't heard anything but would like some context if someone can provide :)



:)
 
Why are we trashing dunkey (honest question). To me he falls into the category of edgy humour but w/o real toxicity.
Having seen his twitter or stances on social issues I felt he was generally positive (pro dev, anti Trump, etc)

I heard something about slurs - haven't heard anything but would like some context if someone can provide :)

Bear in mind I am not one to whitewash people that are actually toxic - I was in the "screw Pewdiepie" camp long before it was cool.
 
a friend sent me a video of this dude about the Chaos meme and I hated him lol, and then the LA review and man he spoils everything without warning, good thing I have already beaten the game multiple times.

Overall it gave the impression that this a dude who is just trying to be interesting and got an audience (somehow)
 
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I wasn't sure if the video was satire at first lol, since it's usually hard to tell with his vids. In any case, hope this manages to help some games, at the very least getting dunkey's exposure is a good boost.
 
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The vibes I got from the video was “this is going to be an article on Polygon about indie devs getting stiffed on payments in a couple of years right?”
 
He was permanently banned from League of Legends for literally "being toxic" lol. That said, that was a long time ago
Yeah, might be wrong but I have the impression that he has changed for the better over time (his community also changed with him : like with Fantano and H3, it went from kinda "alt-righty" to the left). His wife seems to have some positive influence over him. I wish he'd address these slurs and apologize, but to me they came more from ignorance and stupidity rather than JonTron-like bigotry.
 
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I'd say summing up the entirety of the Unity engine as "the engine they made the fucking Donald Trump game with" could be classified as "shitting all over it"

Wow, sounds like he doesn't know anything about game development, thats a great sign.

But it seems like there was some truth in the criticism, as reported by reputable industry press and the devs themselves.


Jason Schreier's take:



One of Celeste dev's take:



Very reasonable takes, and more:




I wish he'd address these slurs and apologize, but to me they came more from ignorance and stupidity rather than JonTron-like bigotry.

Yes, he should apologize.
 
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Yeah, might be wrong but I have the impression that he has changed for the better other time (his community also changed with him : like with Fantano and H3, it went from kinda "alt-righty" to the left). His wife seems to have some positive influence over him. I wish he'd address these slurs and apologize, but to me they came more from ignorance and stupidity rather than JonTron-like bigotry.
Afaik he doesn’t apologize for anything ever so don’t hold your breath
 
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I'm not watching the video but did he really say this "For gamers that actually play and care about video games, my channel is where they come" ?
 
Screw it, I might look into this. At the very least I really could use some funding for a non-terrible development PC.
 


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