“Hubris, thy name is YouTuber!” – This is what Stacey Henley, Editor-in-Chief at The Gamer, wrote in her piece from nearly two years ago titled, “Dunkey’s Indie Game Publisher Is Arrogant And Short-Sighted – I Hope It Works.” In the article, Henley makes salient points about the culture of content creation and the false sense of importance creators can often have of themselves due to them cultivating a cult-like fanbase that barrages them with constant positive reinforcement; leading to a slew of pompous creators launching half-baked products and services – and for the more nefarious, cryptocurrencies – to make a quick buck from their impressionable audience. So when Jason Gastrow a.k.a Videogamedunkey, a YouTuber known for his eccentric comedic style who frequently makes videos that straddle the line between ironic detachment and genuine commentary, comes out and says that he and his wife Leah are launching a video game publishing company, with his only qualification essentially being that he “knows video games,” it isn’t difficult to share much of the skepticism of fellow journalists like Henley. Nearly two years later, however, and Dunkey has proven the naysayers wrong with BigMode’s immense success with their debut title, Animal Well.
In the launch video of BigMode from September of 2022, Dunkey opens by saying, “I’ve been on YouTube for eleven years now, and one of the core themes of my channel has always been to slam dunk soulless cash grabs into the garbage can and lift up and praise the truly inspired works of art in this medium.” This quote, in essence, is what he prides himself on as being the separator that will allow him and Leah to procure the right developers to make games under BigMode akin to those that he believes are representative of said “inspired works of art;” games like Celeste, Hollow Knight, Hades, and Neon Light, to name a few that he mentions. However, as Henley states in her piece: “…being able to spot a good game once it’s out in the world all finished and shiny is not the most important skill in becoming a games publisher.” She is right, of course. Game publishing requires far more than simply being an avid player who has a wide breadth of knowledge of the medium. Even veteran game developers who decide to strike out on their own – like Gears of War’s Cliff Blezinski – struggle to find success within the indie space. That being said, there were a couple of things that Dunkey did differently that led to BigMode’s incredible success with Animal Well.
Not Biting Off More Than They Could Chew
One of the biggest mistakes any small business can make is trying to do too much. Whether it’s doing projects at an unsustainable scale, or promising customers more than what you’re capable of doing. In the case of Dunkey and BigMode, they did the exact opposite. Animal Well is a “simple” 2D Metroidvania, made with a ton of heart and craftsmanship by a singular developer, Billy Basso. From its first showcase at Nintendo’s Indie World in the spring of 2023 which had Dunkey and Basso do a silly and lowly produced intro, to its release trailer, BigMode never tried to promise this game as anything more than what it was. It didn’t try to cater to a wide audience, nor push visuals, mechanics, or features that were trendy or used to disingenuously capture something more than what the game was. Instead, Dunkey and Leah allowed Animal Well to shine for what it was, with all of its idiosyncrasies that made it special in tow.
Dunkey made it a point in his initial reveal video of BigMode how he wanted to actively participate in developing the games they would be publishing. Having to deal with just one developer and not an entire team for their first game was also an astute decision, as fewer things are at risk of getting muddy in communication. That being said, it’s been reported that Basso had been working on Animal Well for years before partnering with BigMode, so how much input Dunkey actually had on the game’s design after their signing of Basso is debatable. Nevertheless, from scale to every presentation of Animal Well prior to its release, Dunkey achieved exactly what he promised to set out to do: highlighting talented developers by publishing unique, evocative pieces of art within the games industry.
Dunkey Marketing, For A Dunkey Audience
More than what Animal Well is as a video game, which going by the glowing reviews (ours included) is a stellar addition to the Metroidvania sub-genre, what impressed me more was the clever way in which Dunkey deftly utilized his YouTube channel to market the game. As a longtime watcher of YouTube – and Dunkey – who’s followed hundreds of creators over the years and watched them grow to expand beyond creating videos and onto other businesses, I’ve grown accustomed to pressing the “L” button on my keyboard or double tapping the right side of my phone screen to skip past sponsored segments or the couple minutes creators spend talking about their new business ventures. Not because I don’t want to support whatever they’re doing (though admittedly I often don’t care for whatever product or service they’re selling), but because I would much rather skip forward to the actual content that I subscribed to. Dunkey’s approach was different and frankly, ingenious.
Rather than forcefully shoeing in segments within his existing videos where he prattles on about Animal Well, segments that departed from the tone and structure of his usual videos and come across as a clear ad for his game, he made videos referencing Animal Well but in hilarious ways that felt naturally fitting for his absurd style. For instance, in the video titled “The Promo Campaign for Animal Well,” he and his friends play Counterstrike and during the game, all of them go around talking to other members of their team and jokingly blackmail them into wishlisting Animal Well; those familiar with Dunkey and Co’s sense of humour are aware of what they’re doing and go around doing the same thing to other players, effectively doing the “marketing” on Dunkey’s behalf. The result is a video that still feels like a classic Dunkey video, even though it’s effectively one used to promote the game.
Beyond the clever marketing and the genuinely great indie game that is Animal Well, it seems Jason and Leah are also passionate about BigMode being a publisher that puts developers first, which includes, as their website says: “…making the most developer-friendly contracts possible.” Though the details of these contracts aren’t known in detail, my hope is that the duo are making good on such a statement; given their entire process with Animal Well though, I’d venture to guess that they are.
As a longtime fan of Dunkey, it’s been a joy to see the creator grow and mature as the years have passed, and I’m keen to see what the future looks like for BigMode.
