Ready at Dawn: industry isnâ??t healthy for indies

Ready at Dawn creative director Ru Weerasuriya has cited what he calls his studio’s “do or die” attitude as helping it survive as an independent studio where others have failed.

Speaking to VG247, Weerasuriya was somewhat damning of the current state of games development worldwide.

“We saw things happening at Australia not too long ago, we’ve got teams at Disney dying here and there, they took a pretty big hit about two weeks ago,” Weerasuriya said.

“It is hard; it’s tough that the industry is not at a very healthy level right now, and especially for the last few independents.

“If you’re a developer right now and you’re owned by a publisher it’s hard enough, so imagine what it’s like if you’re an independent covering all your costs yourself. I don’t think it gets easier at any time, but the last two years have been particularly hard.”

As for Ready at Dawn’s survival, and with the upcoming release of PSP title God of War: Ghost of Sparta a potential flourishing, Weerasuriya is assured of why the studio is maintaining a presence in a sector such as the one described.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re smarter than anyone else, but we’ve always had a very different perspective from other developers out there: it’s do or die.”

Ready at Dawn is also concerned about the levels of piracy the handheld sector is suffering from at the moment, particularly burgeoning PSP piracy.

“It’s getting to the point where it doesn’t make sense to make games on it, if the piracy keeps on increasing,” Weerasuriya said.

“It’s a tough call right now to say what’s going to happen to it and where it’s going to go, but it definitely hurts a lot of developers out there who are trying to make great games.”