Former BioWare lead says his new survival game is only $30 because "there's only so many dollars to go around" in a competitive genre

Having spoken to Mass Effect veteran Aaryn Flynn, CEO of Inflexion Games - the developers working on upcoming survival crafting game Nightingale - it's clear he's aware of the stiff competition vying for our attention in the genre. When our game libraries are saturated with well-rounded titles like Valheim, Palworld, and Sons of the Forest, pulling in an extensive player base for Nightingale isn't going to be an easy task. But is all that competition so bad? 

Of course, for us, it means more of the games that we love to choose from. But how do the devs deal with the fact that our base-building instinct is now further split around where we spend our hard earned cash? Flynn told us how that kind of competitive pressure affected the Nightingale developers, and what they're doing to draw players in. 

The short version? Use it as fuel, and don't overprice the darn thing!

"It's cool to see survival crafting having a moment. I think it's great" He says, and it's true "There might be short term competition, there's only so many dollars to go around and somebody's gotta say 'I think I can afford one of these games, so I'll choose this one over that one.' But I think long term it all nets out and everything's elevated."

Competition, historically, has given developers of not just games more push toward making whatever it is they're making the best that it can be. So, Flynn reckons, the more people out there making survival crafting games, the more visibility for the genre, the more ideas being thrown around for game designers, and overall "a bigger, more interesting melting pot of creativity."

There's no reason for players to give us the benefit of the doubt.

Speaking about the rise of similar games throughout Nightingale's development, Flynn notes that their success "Shows you that the genre is really ripe for innovation." And that doesn't have to be scary. In fact, he says "That's super exciting. I think that's the sign of a healthy genre."

And how has Inflexion Studios