Corporations are Co-Opting Indie Gaming

We now have reports from the Game File revealing that Wildlight Entertainment’s Highguard, the live service game that has spectacularly failed this year, was secretly funded by Tencent, the Chinese entertainment conglomerate. And nobody knew. Wildlight's CEO, Dusty Welch, told The Game Business in January, "We're an independent studio without the support of a big organization." Later, he told Bloomberg, "We don't really speak publicly about the business and the economics and the financials of our company." So, this man sat in front of journalists and described that his studio was independent, or indie, but one of the world’s largest gaming revenue generators was footing the bill. That’s not indie. That’s the furthest from Indie, or specifically Indie culture, which they wanted you to believe they were. Now, why does this matter? Well, Highguard launched to a peak of 97,000 concurrent players on Steam. And there are estimates that this might have had close to a million downloads across all platforms. But it received mostly negative reviews. Within sixteen days, Wildlight laid off most of its staff. The official Highguard website went dark. The game, for all practical purposes, is dead. And I'm here to tell you, this isn't an isolated incident. We’re looking at a pattern. Tencent and investment conglomerates like it—Microsoft, EA, Embracer, and Sony—are poison for gaming. They are poison for the developers who make games. They are poison for the gamers who buy them. And they are poison for the long-term health of the industry as a whole. And today, we're going to prove it. • • • Try the Wizard's Hot Cocoa https://FakeWizard.com • • • Discover NEW Games from Indie Developers Visit https://FakePortal.com • • • Indie Game Shoutouts are provided solely for informational/editorial purposes and are not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise paid for; Fake Portal is offered as a free resource. We have no affiliation or business relationship with the featured developers/publishers, and they have not requested, approved, or coordinated these mentions. • • • Get Connected: ⤿ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reallifefakewizard ⤿ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reallifefakewiz ⤿ See More from Fake Wiz: https://www.FakeWizard.com

FAN MAIL: Real Life Fake Wizard 1003 Mulford Ct. P.O. Box 1602 Knightdale, NC 27545

#Tencent #VideoGames #RealLifeFakeWizard