As The Last of Us, Death Stranding, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle star Troy Baker reveals he wants to start his own game studio to tell his "own stories," one fellow actor who's followed that very same path has a few words of warning.
Abubakar Salim, the actor behind Assassin's Creed Origins protagonist Bayek, is also the founder of Surgent Studios – developer of 2024 Metroidvania title Tales of Kenzera: Zau and last year's excellent psychological horror game Dead Take (which stars Neil Newbon, Ben Starr, and more). Baker actually gives him a shout-out when speaking to Eurogamer about his own game development dreams, saying, "I love Abu, I played the hell out of his games."
Well, considering that Salim is clearly an inspiration for him, I imagine Baker will have to take note as the Surgent Studios lead warns on Twitter: "Don't do it."
Elaborating on this when asked by a fan if it's "too hard and too much pressure involved," Salim says, "it's a ruthless space" at the moment. And he's not wrong – the games industry is constantly being wracked by layoffs and studio closures. Hell, only last month, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced the company was laying off over 1,000 employees, pointing to "the downturn in Fortnite engagement." Generally speaking, it'd be hard to call Fortnite anything but an immense success, but clearly, that still wasn't enough to save those employees' jobs.
Salim's studio has seen plenty of success, too, of course. Dead Take, for example, is getting a film adaptation (thanks, Variety), and actor Jane Perry got a BAFTA Games nomination for the Performer in a Supporting Role award for her performance as Lia Cain in the horror game. Even so, as the founder says, it's tough out there.
Even so, Baker previously seemed keen about the idea. Speaking to Kinda Funny Games, the actor said, "I want to build a team. I am excited about building a studio with people that I've worked with, that I trust, and going, 'Here's my idea. How can you make it better?'"
