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Tim Bender, CEO of publisher Hooded Horse, perhaps best known for Steam-dominating hit Manor Lords but most recently for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, is now also managing director of a new indie fund dishing out a total of $100 million to "promising indie games."
This "Special Opportunities Fund" comes from Griffin Gaming Partners, self-described in a press release as "one of the world's leading venture funds focused exclusively on gaming." The $100 million indie fund represents a significant chunk of the company's $1.5 billion assets.
In my head, the announcement carries similar energy to that gag about "the power of friendship and this gun I found."
"By combining industry-leading expertise and $100 million in funding, the Special Opportunities Fund aims to make substantial changes in the opportunities available to developers," it reads. Expertise and $100 million, is it? I know which one I'd rather have.
"In recent years, the success of indie developers in achieving breakout hits with comparatively modest budgets has made clear both the need for and the opportunity in fair funding solutions for small studios," the company adds. This tracks with the growing market for low- and mid-cost games, especially on PC, which analysts have cited as a fast-growing section in a fairly flat industry.
To that end, Bender will help direct control of the fund, which has already tapped 15 different indie games – one released, eight announced, and six unannounced. It almost goes without saying that the released title, Menace, is a turn-based tactics game, and the list of unannounced titles includes a new "sci-fi grand strategy game" – which is "based on a popular book and TV franchise," as it happens.
The announced games include Darkwood 2, survival horror sequel to one of Hooded Horse's early hits; Kinstrife, a medieval RPG with physically simulated combat; Vaunted, another turn-based RPG; and Highland Keep, a third-person survival game set in medieval Scotland. It's a built-for-Steam lineup of exactly the games I'd expect from Hooded Horse, and that's no bad thing. The image above is from Hellforged, an extraction bullet-hell RPG which, I think, might be able to fit in another genre if it really tries.
Some of the unannounced titles sound a little more out-there, namely the "god game with physics mechanics," the "dinosaur multiplayer RPG," and a "hard sci-fi space ARPG."
Bender says "the potential of indie game development is incredible," and reckons this new fund "is going to result in so many more great games being brought to audiences that will love them. He's previously spoken harshly about the publisher landscape in games, calling most indie publishers "predatory and opportunistic," and "not particularly competent either."
This fund joins a wave of indie opportunities which have cropped up in recent years, many of them led by indie studios who achieved enormous, unexpected success. The developer of Among Us, co-developer of Peak, the Phasmophobia studio, Palworld maker Pocketpair, and Vampire Survivors' Poncle have all started their own funds and/or publishing arms to help more indie games get shipped as the industry struggles with broader funding droughts.
