Why Witch Beam is staying small after Unpacking’s huge success
It was one of 2021's indie hits: Unpacking.
Witch Beam's title won a plethora of awards, featured at a wealth of prestigious conferences, and released successfully on several platforms after its original launch. It was also one of GamesIndustry.biz's very own Games of the Year 2021 (mine).
When asking Witch Beam's co-founder and designer Sanatana Mishra what Unpacking changed for the Brisbane-based studio, he says it's both changed nothing at all, and a lot of things.
"Our studio structure and work process hasn't changed, but it's allowed us to change our lifestyles a lot. For Assault Android Cactus [Witch Beam's previous game], me and Tim [Dawson, co-founder] were often living on less money than a student might have. It's detrimental to your physical health, your mental health… all kinds of things can deteriorate very quickly in that scenario.
"Now we've got a comfortable base to build from. It allows us to feel more confident in hiring other creatives and bringing them in, and giving them a slice of ownership on what we're doing because we don't need to have as much ownership now, we've reached a point where we have a lot of resources. A lot of people when they have success seem to want more and more. I had a little bit of success and realised, 'Oh, isn't this great?' because now I can help other people have some success if there's a lot to go around. I feel like the greed that exists a lot of the time is really weird."
Operating from a place of stability, in a healthy way, is key to Witch Beam's operations. The studio has decided to remain small, doesn't have any full time employees, and aims at empowering its partners and contractors instead of scaling up in a more traditional way.
"There's me, Tim, and Jeff
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