“Blizzard can’t give you anymore”

earthpressnews

The German YouTuber HandofBlood posted on December 23rd. announced that he would be entering the publishing of indie games with his company Instinct3. They want to start pilot projects in 2024. Behind this lies his own enthusiasm for indie games and a general disappointment with the gaming market. With the influencers who belong to the agency, the aim is to offer indie developers a unique offer.

Why indie games? In a video from December 23rd. HandofBlood (via YouTube) explains his late love for indie games, which really began in September 2021 when he turned away from Twitch, turned more towards YouTube and gaming and now needed something to play and show off:

  • Until then, he had played many big games as an influencer: Stronghold, Crusader Kings 3, Dark Souls, the Settlers, Humankind.
  • But then he discovered his love for indie games like BattleBrothers or Loiter. He had always played indie games before, but from September 2021 onwards he really played them.
  • The Steam algorithm recognized this new love for indie games and suggested more and more material from the corner: These were “insanely awesome games” that he then processed as a content creator.

    • Why is he playing fewer AAA games now? The enthusiasm for indie games also comes from disappointment with AAA games and their publishers. Just what’s going on at Activision Blizzard outside of the games puts him off; before Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft had already fallen into disrepute.

    There are even parts of it that I can no longer give myself. Also on a moral level. If you look at what Activision Blizzard is doing. So away from their games. Internally with yourself. Or before that there was Ubisoft, which had similar scandals.

    The games from the big publishers have also declined significantly, says HandofBlood: “The AAA publishers haven’t delivered more,” he says.

    Speaking of disappointing games:

    Lord of the Rings: Gollum was poorly received – HandOfBlood plays it anyway, tries really hard, even plays in cosplay

    More videos

    Autoplay

    This is how publishing came about: HandofBlood says this was an organic development. Smaller teams of developers approached him to ask if he wanted to act as a publisher.

    At first he was skeptical that he was just an “influencer” playing games and trying to entertain viewers, but over time he became comfortable with the idea.

    He says that when we took a closer look at it in the company, which works progressively, we saw that other influencers such as Asmongold and Videogamedunkey were also releasing their own games. So it wasn’t such an innovative “5000 IQ” idea at all.

    But he wanted to be completely transparent: He couldn’t promise that they would be “absolute pros” and that “performance on Steam would be steep.” But you’re interested in learning, and if anyone needs marketing for their games, they’re welcome to ask:

    “We want – perhaps as a goal – an intimate, authentic, organic relationship and then we have a needs-based cooperation.”

    HandofBlood sees the advantage of its offer in the fact that “they all have the influencers here anyway,” and studios can then “chat with them without having to book them.”

    Recommended editorial content

    At this point you will find external content from YouTube that complements the article.

    View YouTube content

    I agree to external content being displayed to me. Personal data may be transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy.

    Who is at Instant3? The best-known influencer that the agency represents is certainly HandofBlood itself. But there are also some well-known faces like David Hain, Fabian Siegesmund, KalleKoschinsyki or Simon Krätschmer (Rocket Beans) and people from the LoL area like Broeki, Maxim and PowerOfEvil.

    More about HandofBlood:

    HandOfBlood explains why he was gone for months: ‘Could have done any job in the world except mine’

    mmod-game