Most Indie Game Publishers Are "Predatory And Opportunistic," Says Manor Lords Publisher

Tim Bender made his name in the video game industry by founding the indie publisher Hooded Horse and has enjoyed a run of hit games--including last year's sleeper Manor Lords--since 2019. Regardless of his own success, Bender recently suggested that indie developers are better off publishing their own games and suggested that some of his rivals are "predatory and opportunistic."

"People can hate me for this if they want," Bender told PC Gamer. "But most indie publishers are not people indie developers should work with. The vast majority of indie publishers, in their whole structure, are predatory and opportunistic."

Bender's argument is that most of the indie developers "don't add a lot" to the success of a game. He went on to elaborate that other publishers are more interested in lining up a large number of games in the hope of investing in popular titles and abandoning the rest.