Former BioWare lead says his new survival game is only $30 because "there's only so many dollars to go around" in a competitive genre

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But make your shiny AAA-looking game cheap, and they will come

Nightingale character stands back to the camera looking out over a vast landscape with baloons and a tall base.
(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

Having spoken to Mass Effect veteran Aaryn Flynn, CEO of Inflexion Games - the developers working on upcoming survival crafting game Nightingale - it's clear he's aware of the stiff competition vying for our attention in the genre. When our game libraries are saturated with well-rounded titles like Valheim, Palworld, and Sons of the Forest, pulling in an extensive player base for Nightingale isn't going to be an easy task. But is all that competition so bad? 

Of course, for us, it means more of the games that we love to choose from. But how do the devs deal with the fact that our base-building instinct is now further split around where we spend our hard earned cash? Flynn told us how that kind of competitive pressure affected the Nightingale developers, and what they're doing to draw players in. 

The short version? Use it as fuel, and don't overprice the darn thing!

"It's cool to see survival crafting having a moment. I think it's great" He says, and it's true "There might be short term competition, there's only so many dollars to go around and somebody's gotta say 'I think I can afford one of these games, so I'll choose this one over that one.' But I think long term it all nets out and everything's elevated."

Competition, historically, has given developers of not just games more push toward making whatever it is they're making the best that it can be. So, Flynn reckons, the more people out there making survival crafting games, the more visibility for the genre, the more ideas being thrown around for game designers, and overall "a bigger, more interesting melting pot of creativity."

There's no reason for players to give us the benefit of the doubt.

Aaryn Flynn

Speaking about the rise of similar games throughout Nightingale's development, Flynn notes that their success "Shows you that the genre is really ripe for innovation." And that doesn't have to be scary. In fact, he says "That's super exciting. I think that's the sign of a healthy genre."

And how has Inflexion Studios dulled their fears around the competition? By pricing the game more reasonably. "I think we feel good about what we're putting out there for $30", says Flynn.

"We know it's our first game, from a new studio, and so there's no reason for players to give us the benefit of the doubt," so the act of pricing a game that looks like it belongs in a higher price bracket at just $30 is really going to improve their chances of being adopted at launch.

Nightingale comes out Tuesday 20th February, so if it looks like the kind of survival crafter you're interested in, now's the time to wishlist the game on Steam and show the devs that their cheap and cheerful approach is working.

There's a lot of competition around the best survival games.

Katie Wickens
Katie Wickens
Freelance writer

Katie is a freelance writer with over 5 years experience covering everything from tabletop RPGs, to video games and tech. Besides earning a Game Art and Design degree up to Masters level, she is a designer of board games, board game workshop facilitator, and an avid TTRPG Games Master - not to mention a former Hardware Writer over at PC Gamer.