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The biggest critic of gaming is getting into publishing. Jason “Videogame Dunkey” Gastrow announced in his latest YouTube video that he and his wife Leah Gastrow, will be running a new indie label called Bigmode, dedicated to discovering and distributing the best games that haven’t even been made yet. “I’m tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for great games to come out,” the YouTuber said. “Now I want to go in there and help make it work.”
Gastrow is far and wide the the most dominant YouTuber when it comes to game reviews, with polished videos featuring a mix of running gags and unvarnished opinions that consistently garner millions of views. He now says he wants to use his years of taste-finding to help new indie projects stand out in the current “sea of mediocrity.” As examples of what he’s looking for, he cites some of the best-selling and critically acclaimed indie games of the last few years, such as: Enter the dungeon, Celesteand Hades.
So what exactly does it entail when Gastrow releases your game? The YouTuber doesn’t go into many details, but claims that Bigmode’s contracts will be the most developer-friendly out there and won’t limit creative freedom. “I’m not looking for creative control over your games, but I do want to be involved,” he said. The announcement video ends with a call for developers and studios to head over to Bigmode’s website and share their projects and portfolios.
It’s not uncommon for major gaming personalities to collaborate on individual games or even have games created as part of their overall brand promotion. Comedy gaming channel Game Grumps previously made the move into development with the release of dating sim dream dad in 2017. But starting an entire publishing business is no side hustle, and the space is already full of other established players as the indie gaming scene has exploded over the past decade.
Typically, publishers help fund the development of a game and pay for its distribution, marketing, and other logistical needs in exchange for a cut in revenue. It is often only when these initial costs are paid in game sales that the original developers are starting to see every winwhich can take days, weeks, or years depending on how successful the game is.
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One thing Gastrow promises is that the financial incentives surrounding his new business venture won’t skew or water down opinions on his gaming channel. Reviewers on YouTube have long advertised themselves as fearless and uncompromising voices, beholden to no one but their audience. The subtext is that the opinions they share are authentic while everyone else is a chump. That’s certainly one of the messages in Gastrow’s announcement video.
“For gamers who play and care about video games, my channel is where they go to find out what’s really worth playing, and I want all real deal gamers out there to know that I would never risk my channel’s legitimacy by pushing some silly video games I don’t believe in,” he said. Finding out what game will be next, of course Cuphead and that will be just another trash cheat in the early stages of development is very different from suggesting that the latest blockbuster sequel is broken and boring.
Gastrow goes on to say that his videos will remain mostly fun and light-hearted, while also being serious and intense when necessary, and that Bigmod will be a “harmonious” continuation of that ethos. We’ll see how that ambition plays out when the label’s first game is released.
