Indie studio Heart Machine is experimenting with Patreon because ‘money is tough to come by’

is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Heart Machine, the studio behind games like Hyper Light Drifter, Solar Ash, and the upcoming platformer Possessor(s), launched a Patreon last December. Like many other developers, it has dealt with its share of struggles, including layoffs late last year. With the many challenges in the gaming industry right now, the studio is experimenting with using Patreon as a source of revenue and to help build community. “The Patreon’s there, really, to open up to the community and talk about certain things when it comes to game development,” Heart Machine founder Alx Preston told The Verge at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last month. “I think there’s still a lot of distance between developers traditionally and the audience that consumes what they make — what we make — so finding ways to dig back in and have a conversation there is important.” It could help ... Read full article.