Reflections after the "GameDev Behind the Scenes" panel – a shift in the Polish industry narrative?
Yesterday's panel confirmed my feeling that the atmosphere in Polish game development is slowly changing. I've attended this event for 3–4 years, and until now the dominant narrative could be summed up as: "Things have to get better, because they can't possibly get worse." This year – for the first time – it was noticeably more optimistic. A few quotes from the panelists: Maciej Miąsik: "We're making a game with our own money for now, but maybe something will come of it." Michał Mielcarek: "It's still tough, but there are some contracts and new opportunities emerging." We're also seeing concrete successes like Fumi Games with the launch of MOUSE: P.I. for Hire or Creepy Jar with Star Rapture.
And yet, listening to these voices, I sensed a longing for the era when you could say: "I made The Witcher, give me €50 million." That era won't return. Meanwhile, despite the crisis, it's the small teams (2–3 people) that I find truly remarkable. Their games don't have thousands of Steam reviews, but they're solid, resonate with their niche, and generate enough to sustain the team. These developers rarely go to conferences, work with their own funds, and don't chase investors. Examples? scriptwelder (a game that recouped two years of production costs in one month), Transhuman Design (Shakal after the success of Maniac), or Wrocław-based Silver Lemur Games with the regular Legends of Amberland releases (now on part three). These are thoughtful, relatively cheap games made on the developers' own dime. They didn't go from investor to investor – they sat in their home offices, talked to their players, and coded. In the case of Michał Marcinkowski – for over 20 years.
I feel that in Poland we often define success in game dev by scale. But success is deeply subjective. For a solo developer, a steady monthly income of $2.5–5k (10–20k PLN) can be a huge achievement. For a team of 100–200 people, a million a month is sometimes not enough.
A broader perspective – an industry colleague's voice
As my colleague put it: *"The industry consists of hundreds of thousands of people: small, medium, large, and giant companies. The fact that a few hundred people in small studios are making ends meet is great – but that's barely 1/5 of one large company or 1/50 of one giant. A very, very small percentage of the whole. Subjectivity of success aside, for most of the industry (e.g., people with kids), $2.5–5k a month is far from a success. Breaking even after years of hard work on a niche project funded from your own savings – that's also art for art's sake. Great for a beginner's start, but in the long run, lack of growth means moving backward. So yes, it's a ray of hope – but for a tiny fraction of the industry."*
My takeaway
Everyone has their own path. In my view, this crisis is hitting the AAA and AA sectors. Indie developers – those who have always been in the "do it yourself" lane – are essentially where they've always been. Nothing has changed for them. Besides, the AAA world never appealed to me. Sure, I enjoy playing big productions, but – like most gamers today – I play titles from 5 years ago. Large companies will have an even harder time. Small, experienced teams will do better. Just as the industry is learning that games need to be cheaper, the seasoned little guys can quote Bane with a smirk: "Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it…"