Indie Profile: Beatnik Games

Established in 2008, young property development tycoon Damien Cerri set up Beatnik with a vision that game development would be easy.

The studio then rose to fame in 2010 with the release of its PC action game Plain Sight.

The central London studio quickly built the confidence and reputation needed to instate itself in the indie hall of fame, having learned Cerri’s initial optimism may have been misplaced.

As a result, current CEO Sherif Aziz is optimistic about today’s indie scene.

“We do think it’s probably one of the best times in gaming history to be an indie,” says Aziz.

“However, the competition is fierce, which is good and bad. Good because it drives the quality of games up; bad because if you do need funding to get a new project off the ground it can be difficult.”

Despite those challenges, the democratisation of technology through tools provided by the likes of Unity, UDK and Havok has allowed Aziz and his contemporaries to build sustainable businesses around IPs that scream indie spirit.

“I also think initiatives such as Indie City and other crowdfunding sites will play an interesting role in the future of indie games,” says Aziz of the current indie sector.

“Fans and the community get interesting projects off the ground – it’s definitely an exciting time to be an indie.”

And despite work underway including an iOS title and a cross-platform Vita project, Beatnik remains besotted by the PC as a platform for exciting indie games.

“I think the PC will always be the best gaming machine on the planet. Whatever consoles can do a PC can do better and almost every household has one,” offers Aziz.

“Digital distribution makes getting content to users easy and cost effective. Also, you’re not at the mercy of the platform holder which can all but kill a small indie studio.”