The head of New Blood Interactive, Dave Oshry, spoke quite harshly about the situation in the game industry: if you are a beginner, you should have started 10 years ago. Accordingly, it is better to find a real job «and become a plumber».
He said that said in an interview with PC Gamer.
New Blood Interactive is known for the shooters Dusk and Ultrakill. As of August 2022, New Blood had 25 employees.
According to Dave Oshry, «the magic is gone» and developers from big studios can no longer enjoy games: they need to constantly report to someone who, in turn, reports to another person, and so on.
«People often ask me: “Dave, if I want to get into game dev, where do I start?” And I say: Don’t. Just quit. You should have started 5-10 years ago. Go to a vocational school, find a real job. Become a plumber. People need them. You don’t want to be employee number 356772, reporting to someone who reports to someone who reports to someone who reports to someone who makes decisions. It sucks. The magic is gone. You’re not going to enjoy video games anymore if you work for a big game studio,» he said.
He also explains the success of New Blood Interactive by the fact that they create these games for themselves, do not pursue money and trends, and are not accountable to anyone.
«Our motto is “We hate money”. Actually, we don’t hate money, money — is great, but if we wanted money, we would have turned Dusk into a horror with crafting and» elements,” he emphasized.
Dusk — is a boomer shooter in the style of the 90s. The game uses a more modern control scheme and a more advanced physics engine compared to games of the time. The game received mostly high praise from the press; reviewers called Dusk «a love letter» to old shooters, noting that it deserves attention not only as a stylization of games from a bygone era, but also as a modern and self-contained game.