Digital Bandidos fashioned final 12 months as an indie sport publishing firm simply as many publishers have been going out of enterprise.
Led by Steve Escalante and Lance James, the corporate has raised thousands and thousands of {dollars} and helps to fill the hole and supply funding for indie sport builders. It’s not a simple process, contemplating 17,000 small video games debut in a given 12 months and sport studios have been disappearing by the handfuls.
However with many years of expertise, Escalante mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat that his firm can present professional steering and function scrappy outlaws who can battle injustice on behalf of indie sport builders — therefore the identify Digital Bandidos.
One of many firm’s newest initiatives is Let Them Come: Onslaught, a survivors-like horror expertise the place every thing from alien hordes to dynamic climate is out to get you. It’s being developed by Denver, Colorado-based Tuatara Video games. It’s being unveiled at The Combine Kinda Humorous Spring Showcase at GDC 2025. The sport can be revealed by Digital Bandidos throughout PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Change, and PC later this 12 months.
Let Them Come: Onslaught strands gamers on an alien world overrun by horrors with just one
approach out — nuke it from orbit! Each alternative of weapon and improve impacts your possibilities of
survival. Combat towards overwhelming odds till the timer hits zero and the nuke drops, leveling
the battlefield in spectacular trend.
“It’s nice to be partnered with the proficient crew at Digital Bandidos, who I’ve had the pleasure
of working with earlier than on a earlier title within the Let Them Come franchise,” mentioned Klemen Lozar,
Sport Director at Tuatara Video games, in an announcement. “We’re very excited to be bringing the sport to a large
viewers by hitting all the key platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and the Change.”
Tuatara Video games is simply one of many studios that has beforehand labored with the indie publishing
veterans at Digital Bandidos. The writer can also be re-engaging with different former studio companions, signifying the belief builders have within the crew. Extra updates on this and plenty of different titles from Digital Bandidos can be delivered within the coming weeks.
“You all the time hope that the groups you’re employed with prior to now wish to work with you once more,”
mentioned Escalante. “Relationships on this trade are vital; the lifeblood of my 25 years working in video games. Having already signed a former crew with Soulstone Survivors and including Let Them Come: Onslaught to our slate helps two firm targets. First, signal video games that may cross-promote one another by a shared viewers. And second, work with individuals you want, know they will ship, and may create wonderful sport experiences. “Though Soulstone Survivors and Let Them Come: Onslaught each match within the survivors-like/bullet heaven style, every unleashes a uniquely electrifying spin on the method. Followers of the
style can count on explosive motion and intense challenges, shortly discovering that every title’s distinct tone, model, and gameplay ensures two fully totally different—and equally thrilling—experiences.”
“As a substitute of wielding a rapier, bow, or blaster, we stock many years of sport publishing data and cutting-edge expertise. We goal to arm impartial builders to tackle the ever-more aggressive video games market—and win, the corporate’s internet web page says.
Escalante believes his firm will help builders and perceive them as a result of they’ve been passionate avid gamers since childhood. Escalante desires to create a contemporary writer that offers with the massive challenges that builders are dealing with.
Unveiled in August 2024, Digital Bandidos was based by former staff of Versus Evil, together with founder and normal supervisor Escalante. The corporate just lately added CFO Richard Iwaniuk, advertising head Richard Iggo and communications supervisor James Batchelor.
Digital Bandidos is planning to take the cellular sport City of Salem 2, the sequel to a social deduction sport, to current-generation PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Change consoles later this 12 months.
The corporate can also be getting ready updates on plenty of different initiatives attributable to arrive in 2025 and past, together with the most recent on Soulstone Survivors and the disclosing of a number of new video games in improvement.
Digital Bandidos is a full-service writer at present on the lookout for PC and console titles with improvement budgets of as much as $3 million. It makes a speciality of role-playing, technique and motion video games, however is open to any style on any platform.
Robust vibes within the trade
“Clearly, there’s a really totally different vibe and somber tone. With the turmoil and the stuff that occurred after promoting Versus Evil final 12 months, we’ve been making an attempt to determine the issues of the trade,” Escalante mentioned. “What are the trade’s wants? What’s thrilling for me is getting again to speaking about sport pitches and issues that may assist indies.”
Escalante famous that triple-A video games are nonetheless in a tricky state, with the Warner Bros. and Ubisoft groups nonetheless having large layoffs in 2025, when issues have been speculated to get higher. An estimated 35,000 sport trade individuals have been laid off prior to now three years.
“Indies are nonetheless not getting funded. These issues are nonetheless weighing fairly heavy on the trade proper now,” Escalante mentioned. “I’m speaking with so many groups and plenty of of them are operating out of cash.”
He famous it’s an enormous deal that sport engine makers Unity and Epic Video games received’t have a lot presence on the present ground at GDC this 12 months.
“That’s a recurring them. The publishers are gone. The devs have their rights again,” he mentioned.
Who wants a brand new writer?
The encouraging factor is that new publishers like Digital Bandidos and extra just lately Acclaim Leisure have been fashioned. Escalante believes the elemental duties of publishers don’t go away even throughout a downturn. These duties embrace offering funding, advertising, porting, improvement assist and extra.
“Bandidos is absolutely targeted on instruments and issues that we will do to assist the trade, to assist these guys which might be doing that,” Escalante mentioned. “We’re growing a few of that proper now. However I agree. The optimism of getting the publishers with the concept of funding is an efficient signal, however, as I mentioned, we’re nonetheless seeing among the fallout of these publishers both not making it or operating out of cash.”
As for the latest Matthew Ball slide deck, Escalante had robust opinions. He spent a variety of time in conferences prior to now 12 months speaking in regards to the challenges.
“What I actually proceed to see because the primary problem is the necessity for retention and post-launch help for video games,” Escalante mentioned. “Funding in fact has to occur first. There are a variety of groups that can nonetheless get into the trenches and do it themselves. However the different problem is discovery, and never lots of people are speaking about that as a lot as I feel that they need to.”
Escalante mentioned Digital Bandidos is hyper targeted on that discovery, retention and post-launch help. That helps video games promote extra models, and that’s vital. He famous that Epic Video games Retailer and Steam present some help, however they’re doing that for a fraction of the titles which might be launching.
“I feel neighborhood goes to be one of many strongest advertising instruments on the market for individuals, whether or not that’s leveraging Discord, whether or not that’s leveraging the extra grassroots kind locations. How do I have to be constructing that guerrilla advertising technique to primarily construct out the strategy when it comes to how I get individuals excited a few sport?”
Devs want to interrupt down the journey that they’re on with gamers, and the way they will get a flywheel of viral progress going in the event that they plan a launch proper. Getting a variety of wishlists are nice for a sport, however they’re not a lot good in the event that they’re two years outdated.
“Triple-A firms simply insert money and do an announcement on an enormous stage. The indies are compelled to punch by utilizing guerrilla advertising,” Escalante mentioned. “They’re they’re compelled to announce two or three years out. A triple-An organization may even shadow drop a sport on the day of launch.”
He added, “It’s been an attention-grabbing journey for me as I’ve been questioning myself and the way we ship content material for our companions. We’ll discuss extra about that sooner or later, however for indies, it’s been an uphill battle. How can we mitigate these dangers.”
Whereas there have been shock indie hits like Balatro and Animal Nicely, it’s nonetheless laborious to face out amongst 19,000 video games launched on Steam (2024 numbers).
Setting itself aside
Digital Bandidos has grown to seven individuals and it’s trying to keep small and agile. One in all its titles, Soulstone Survivors is already available in the market and it has executed over 1,000,000 models offered on the PC. Digital Bandidos will deal with the console launches. City of Salem 2 is coming, as is a brand new title dubbed Let Them Come Onslaught.
With one of many titles, Digital Bandidos hopes to advance the developer cash to get began on a brand new title whereas ready for the primary title to get off the bottom. Many of the new video games can be coming later this 12 months and early subsequent 12 months, Escalante mentioned.
Whereas new launches just like the upcoming Change 2 may very well be attractive, Escalante is targeted on the platforms which have an enormous put in base at present, like PlayStation 5. Escalante additionally hopes to take some titles like City of Salem to different platforms, like Telegram or Discord.
“I’ve by no means been one to draw back from a platform if it will increase my revenues by 5%,” he mentioned. “If it solely prices me this a lot cash to get to those platforms, let’s do it due to the lengthy tail.”
Getting up within the morning
Escalante began in video games about 25 years in the past. He famous he just lately misplaced his buddy, Carter Lipscomb, who additionally spent many years within the trade. Lipscomb helped Escalante self-publish his first sport. That began Escalante on the indie monitor. Some buddies can be holding a wake for Lipscomb on the Sport Builders Convention on Monday.
Escalante ran Versus Evil for about 10 years, and but he nonetheless felt there was good work to be executed. He had conversations with a 100 individuals, they usually mentioned they nonetheless wanted publishers.
“So lots of the builders we talked to mentioned, ‘I’m so glad you’re doing this. We’d like to work with you,’” Escalante mentioned. “It was good validation by the precise individuals. I take pleasure in geeking out with the event groups about their sport, about how we will help them. I stand up within the morning for it. I think about myself to be extraordinarily fortunate.”
