"It's terrifying": CEO behind ex-Helldivers, WoW devs' new studio says it's a "silly," "ridiculous" time to create a new studio, but someone needs to stop "ignoring 52% of the world population"

It feels like there are more games coming out than ever before, but that also makes it incredibly hard for any studio to hold out attention for long. Even Blue Scarab Entertainment, a studio made up of ex-Helldivers and World of Warcraft veterans, thinks the situation is untenable.

In an interview with CEO Colin Cragg and Equinox: Homecoming director Craig Morrison, Ashley Bardhan asks what the challenges associated with opening a new studio right now are.

"It's terrifying," admits Cragg. "To call the situation the industry is in at the moment "ridiculous" would definitely be an understatement. It's silly.

"Here we are in 2025 where, at the beginning of the year, with the change in government in the United States, everyone's like, 'Oh no, it's gonna be pro-business now, and everything's supposed to start kind of unlocking itself.' […] But […] the risk element of things right now has everybody holding their breath. Everything is locked up, nothing is moving."

The impact of Trump's tariffs have already been felt in gaming, with Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders being delayed in the US. Despite the difficulties, Morrison still believes in what the studio is doing.

"Why do it? […] We genuinely feel that there's a space in the market for something new and different, and that takes different demographics seriously," Morrions says. "Because we didn’t want to be the 45th survival game that's going to market in the next six months."

Equinox: Homecoming certainly sounds like something new. A horse-riding mystery MMORPG set on an idyllic island is not the kind of game you see every day.

Morrison states: "We really hope that that starts to show people that there is another path and that it attracts both audience and investors in the future — that we're able to show that you can make quality experiences for people that aren’t […] neatly within the gaming box."

If you want to see what other new and exciting projects are coming out, have a look at our list of all the upcoming video game release dates and see if any stand out.