A workforce of business veterans behind Minecraft, Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic have launched the indie writer Three Buddies.
It’s a small workforce, however they’ve been right here earlier than and it’s like they’re going full circle again to the times when their large firm was a small firm.
The Stockholm, Sweden-based indie writer focuses on partnering with small Nordic groups, significantly in Sweden. The identify is a bit out of date already because it has really been cofounded by 4 folks: Albert Säfström, Daniel Kaplan, Sebastian Badylak and Johan Hermeren, Three Buddies assist builders refine their imaginative and prescient and core mechanics, making certain their recreation is each creatively robust and commercially viable.
Going small
With a small workforce, the corporate can spend extra time on every venture. Fairly than pray and spray, the workforce is making an attempt to make every venture into successful.
“We’re hoping that our hit fee will probably be greater than somebody with a portfolio technique,” Säfström mentioned. “We’re much more choosy.”
“There’s no secret trick to creating a terrific recreation—it’s not about one large thought, however about addressing hundreds of small questions alongside the best way,” mentioned Säfström, cofounder and producer at Three Buddies, in a press release. “The correct selections on the proper time add up, shaping the ultimate expertise. We work carefully with builders to create an atmosphere the place concepts can mature with out drifting astray, serving to groups focus their efforts and profit from their time and sources.”
Three Buddies isn’t about signing as many video games as potential—it’s about making every one depend. By working carefully with a choose few groups, they guarantee each venture will get hands-on help, long-term funding, and the strategic steerage wanted to succeed. Partnering early, they assist builders refine concepts, sharpen mechanics, and create one thing really particular.
As for the difficulties that Matthew Ball identified in his slide deck, Säfström mentioned, “I believe the business as an entire overextended throughout Covid. And we’re nonetheless seeing the implications of that. Folks assumed all the progress curves would proceed to increase upward and to the proper, as they did throughout Covid. We’re seeing the aftermath of that proper now.”
“It looks like we’ve gone again to the time earlier than Covid,” Kaplan mentioned.
Säfström mentioned, “It’s not a shock that the video games which were succeeding are wonderful experiences. For us, with the state of affairs we’re in, it permits us to spend extra time on every venture. It’s about making an attempt to not care concerning the weekly developments out there. A very good recreation shouldn’t care concerning the underling developments. A very good recreation ought to survive in any market.”
“It’s simpler for us as a result of we’re financing smaller builders and we are able to maintain small groups for a very long time,” Kaplan mentioned.
“Publishing is all the time extra enticing since we consider we are able to contribute so much when it comes to the sport manufacturing aspect of issues,” Kaplan mentioned. “One of many the reason why we give up our different jobs was as a result of we ended up turning into a much bigger firm. We had been simply watching when everybody else was doing cool stuff. We needed to get extra concerned within the into the making of the cool stuff. And it’s tougher to be so direct and so concerned if you’re on the large firm. It looks like we’ve gone again 5 – 6 years and tried to construct tiny Espresso Stain once more.”
Publishing mannequin
Three Buddies’ publishing mannequin is constructed on three key rules:
- Get in Early, Construct it Proper – The perfect video games begin with a robust basis. Three Buddies companion with builders early to refine their imaginative and prescient and set them up for achievement.
- Decide the Proper Battles – Indie groups don’t have the sources of triple-A studios. Three Buddies assist them give attention to what really makes their recreation stand out—like selecting the important survival objects for a abandoned island.
- Steerage, Not Management – Nice video games want artistic imaginative and prescient. Three Buddies work carefully with builders, playtesting alongside them and offering insights—with out taking the reins.
“We don’t consider in dashing a recreation to market or throwing cash at issues,” mentioned Kaplan, cofounder and Producer at Three Buddies, in a press release. “A few of the finest indie video games–like Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic–took the time to refine their core gameplay earlier than scaling up. That’s why we companion with builders early, serving to them determine what makes their recreation particular to allow them to double down on what works.”
With a long time of expertise supporting indie studios, Three Buddies understands the challenges of bringing an impartial recreation to market. Their hands-on strategy, mixed with a deep understanding of the indie panorama, ensures that builders not solely obtain funding but in addition the strategic help wanted to navigate the advanced path from idea to launch.
Three Buddies will start revealing its first signed titles in spring 2025. For extra data, you’ll be able to observe Three Buddies on LinkedIn or go to the official web site right here.
The corporate has signed with six small groups to date, 5 in Sweden and one within the U.S. The hope is to launch and reveal the primary title this 12 months.
Origins
Three Buddies is a boutique indie writer based by business veterans behind Minecraft, Valheim, and Deep Rock Galactic. Primarily based in Sweden, they give attention to serving to primarily Swedish and Nordic builders flip robust concepts into standout video games by offering hands-on steerage, monetary backing, and a gameplay-first strategy to publishing.
By partnering with groups early in growth, Three Buddies ensures they’ve the time, sources, and help wanted to deliver their imaginative and prescient to life.
“We’re small within the writer primarily based in Sweden. And we’re really, we’re really 4 people who find themselves working this Three Buddies enterprise,” Säfström mentioned. “I used to run Espresso Stain Publishing, and we began Espresso Stain Publishing in 2016 till the top of 2022 after we after we began Three Buddies.”
Kaplan works as producer and enterprise developer. He was previously the CEO of Souvenir Video games and was additionally at Espresso Stain at first. He left in 2021 and began Souvenir Video games, a small indie recreation firm in Stockholm.
Badylak was additionally at Espresso Stain from the start and left simply earlier than the workforce began Three Buddies. The corporate has a personal investor however it isn’t but disclosing who that’s.
“We consider that with our background, there’s room to give attention to these smaller initiatives the place we could possibly be very choosy concerning the initiatives that we tackle after which work so much nearer with the initiatives than many different publishers,” Säfström mentioned.
He mentioned the workforce doesn’t essentially consider it’s sitting on a giant perception. Fairly, they know that making recreation takes numerous effort and time.
“We wish to give our groups the power to discover or cook dinner their recreation, to make one thing actually particular,” Säfström mentioned. “It’s additionally not about one individual coming with this one silver bullet concept that takes a venture from good to nice. It’s concerning the accumulation of creating fairly good selections constantly over time. You already know the actually boring reply is you need to get eight hours of sleep, drink a lot of water, eat your greens and go for a stroll. That form of mentality to creating video games — and to us, that signifies that we’re closely concerned — and we assist our groups discover the imaginative and prescient of the video games that they’re making an attempt to make.”
Badylak added, “It’s tremendous vital to us that it’s nonetheless them making their very own video games, however we act as checks and balances and and somebody to bounce concepts off to see that we are able to discover one of the best model of of the sport that they wish to make.”
The corporate will give attention to the Swedish and nice Nordic markets when it comes to groups. But when it finds a terrific recreation, it is going to work with that workforce no matter the place it’s. The founders have traditionally had numerous success in Steam Early Entry, they usually know the Steam platform nicely.
“So we’re specializing in on video games that will thrive in that Steam Early Entry market,” Badylak mentioned. “So we’re not centered on consoles or cellular or blockchain or and so on, any of that house.”
Säfström mentioned the corporate might launch its video games on the consoles too, however the PC is the first goal. It’s much less more likely to be engaged on cellular video games.
Chasing developments? Nope.
The workforce isn’t categorically against blockchain, however they’re centered on gameplay first they usually haven’t seen any pitches to date the place blockchain is a crucial element.
“Many of the instances it feels prefer it’s somebody chasing a development. That’s not one thing we’ve achieved. Now we have not seen any options the place blockchain has been built-in in a method the place it enhances the sport,” Kaplan mentioned.
Säfström added, “Now we have seen nothing there that excites us in blockchain.”
AI recreation growth?
As for AI-powered video games, Kaplan mentioned the workforce is hesitant. A celebrity developer might get higher with AI instruments. However a mediocre developer may not profit a lot. If instruments turn into good at enhancing productiveness, it makes the small workforce higher and much more choosy. But it surely’s nonetheless early days in AI instruments making a distinction in productiveness, Säfström mentioned.
“There’s lots of people within the business who’re scared concerning the jobs being taken away,” Kaplan mentioned. “We’re able the place folks can check out these completely different fashions and discover errors. We work with actually small groups and we pleasure ourselves on being fairly scrappy. If we are able to discover a actually good device that may assist us, the place it’s for the betterment of the sport, we consider that on the finish of the day, it’s about what the gamers expertise after they play the sport that’s going to make the distinction. It’s not one thing that we’re doing for the sake of doing it.”
“We’re fairly pragmatic in that sense. No matter improves the participant expertise — that’s one thing we will certainly consider,” Säfström mentioned. “We come from a PC background.”
“We’re additionally making an attempt to look forward. We see these actually highly effective engines, as an example, with the ability to render photorealistic scenes. Think about with the ability to do that with a with a extremely small workforce,” Säfström mentioned. “However the me at this time is like pondering two or three years forward, pondering that like this can simply elevate the bar, and so like being a pleasant trying recreation is not going to be that large of a differentiating consider a 12 months or two. And so we consider that the core gameplay being robust is much more vital.”
On the query of AI, Säfström mentioned smaller groups will be capable of use it very inexpensively to discover numerous ideas with agility.
“That’s such a like a bonus that we’ve as a result of. If you recognize the meme, when you have a symphony orchestra and one individual can play this piece by Mozart in three minutes. How lengthy does it take foe a symphony orchestra? Effectively, it takes the identical period of time. When you’ve got a extremely large workforce, it turns into so prohibitively costly to do that exploration. So that you form of default again to what’s confirmed and our measurement permits us to discover much more and hopefully discover some fascinating new floor.”
