Mamon King's creator says he just wants to make a fun game and doesn't care if it sells well
It is a widespread belief today that major game developers are unnecessarily greedy and spend too much money on microtransactions and DLC rather than on making games entertaining. Among indie developers, however, the situation is somewhat different, and we often find passionate enthusiasts in their ranks.
This includes the highly successful Japanese game streamer Yoshinama, who made the switch to game developer. He has invested 25 million yen (approximately £120,000 / €140,000) from his own pocket to make a very niche, but fairly expensive, game together with the studio Litmus. Their title is called Mamon King, and it will be released on PC and Switch tomorrow (December 10).
Automaton chatted with him to find out more about how he plans to make money from this - and the answer is light years away from what AAA developers would say:
"People might think I'm weird, but I was like, 'I want to make a game. I don't need profit.' Honestly, I think turning a profit from this would be extremely difficult. I have zero track record in game development and no credibility in the field; I'm just a streamer. Even so, I desperately wanted to make a game."
The studio's game director Yu Totsuka says that this explanation was enough to convince him, because ultimately he wants to make games that he's excited about:
"I was honestly moved by his statement, Even if sales are tough, I want to make what I want to make (laughs)."
Mamon King draws inspiration from Koei Tecmo's Monster Rancher series, but we also see elements of Pokémon. You can check out four images from the adventure below.
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