Comment by zapzupnz
6 years ago
He's had a small successful business for a long time, though, with an extremely limited audience and no intent to widen it with a view to potentially much better profits. I'm not sure I'd call it "sound business advice" unless one's business intent is to barely float above water.
The majority of indie game developers will likely never be profitable if they account for their time. Yes, it's a small company, but merely still being there makes him one of the most successful indie developers around.
You'll note part of his reason for wanting to stay small is that he's an introvert who likes to work by himself - not everyone wants to build a sprawling empire. So sure, if you want to gamble big at a shot at massive success you probably shouldn't listen to him. If you want to be able to be independent and work for yourself, he has worthwhile lessons about focusing on what pays your bills and where your skills are that are worthwhile not just for people who wants to do games.
You speak as if you know his business a lot better than a couple of blog posts can convey. What's the basis for your business advice?
I'm not claiming to provide business advice. The source of my understanding of the articles, and the business described therein, is the same as the basis for absolutely anybody else's extrapolation, both in his defence and against: the articles themselves.
It seems to me that if, in 25 years, this guy is quibbling over whether he has the money or not to improve the look of his assets, something repeatedly said not to necessarily have any cost at all, whilst other small indie development teams (even those with only one or two people) manage to make breakthrough hits that reach as wide as possible an audience and look good, sometimes on multiple platforms including console, there's plenty to say that perhaps any business advice one could extrapolate is not the gold standard that his defenders are holding it up to be.