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Jason Gastrow, otherwise known as Videogamedunkey, or just Dunkey, is a YouTuber who talks about and reviews games on his channel. For years, he's covered games both big and small, using his trademark sarcastic humor to build on his career as a game reviewer that has over 7 million subscribers. His latest video was not about a specific game, and instead was an announcement for Dunkey's new independent game publishing label called Bigmode. According to Dunkey, too many good indie games are "getting lost in a sea of mediocrity", and he's tired of just sitting on the sidelines merely reviewing games after they release, and now he wants to be directly involved.

"I am not looking for creative control", Dunkey explains, claiming that he wants to be involved, and for Bigmode to act as a seal of approval. His brand would, in theory, offer developer-friendly contracts, and help promote quality games that have substance, over anything else. Dunkey leverages the fact that he knows what good games are, after years of promoting various indie titles on his channel, such as Undertale, Cuphead, Hades, and others.

 

[City]

Can't wait for someone to destroy the games he's going to publish as he would if it was someone else.

 

[WG481]

Just imagine indie devs in 5 years boasting their “Dunkey seal of approval.”
I will be buying every Bigmode published game.

 

[ParanoidBetazoid]

This is wild. Watching how it pans out will be an experience.

 

[supergamer368]

i wish him the best on this but i did NOT like his video announcing it. it seemed like he was hyping himself up waay too much and taking credit for the success of lots of huge indies. (sorry dunkey, undertale still would've taken off without you.) as someone who loves his content, i hope this goes well but my man needs to humble himself a bit

 

[City]

i wish him the best on this but i did NOT like his video announcing it. it seemed like he was hyping himself up waay too much and taking credit for the success of lots of huge indies. (sorry dunkey, undertale still would've taken off without you.) as someone who loves his content, i hope this goes well but my man needs to humble himself a bit

LMFAO HE SAID UNDERTALE’S SUCCESS WAS BECAUSE OF HIM?

People like him need to disappear. I don’t wish him to be hurt, just to realize how much of a dipshit he is and consider a career in farming or something, far away from people.

 

[Viri]

I have no idea who this guy is, but cool, gl.

 

[linuxares]

If he publish a game, it aint a Indie game any more...

 

[CMDreamer]

First time I read about this guy, completely unknown for me.

Hope he doesn't follow the line of LRG, that totally sucks and is ruining the gaming experience for many people all over the world.

If he's looking to promote indie games -games in general- they should be made available to the vast majority of gamers all around the globe and not to a very limited quantity of them.

If he achieves something like that, then I'll be glad to support BigMode.

 

[Volttekka]

If he publish a game, it aint a Indie game any more...

Pretty sure indie refers to independent developers

 

[kjaved373]

LMFAO HE SAID UNDERTALE’S SUCCESS WAS BECAUSE OF HIM?

People like him need to disappear. I don’t wish him to be hurt, just to realize how much of a dipshit he is and consider a career in farming or something, far away from people.

Maybe I missed that part, but I didn't get that impression from the video. It sounded more like he gets exposure to millions of people (which seems true based on most of videos getting at least 2M views), not games succeed because of him. Not sure how many of those convert to sales though.

I don't think larger indies would go with him though since he's new to the publishing game, but I'm interested to see if he can get some more obscure/small indies more exposure that wouldn't get as much by self-publishing.

 

[linuxares]

Pretty sure indie refers to independent developers

Nope, it's that you self publish as well. Else it ain't no indie, just a normal game studio.

 

[KitChan]

Not sure I want to buy a game from a YouTuber whose notable trait is "sarcastic humor".

 

[HarveyHouston]

I don't follow this guy. Kudos to him, I guess?

 

[Chary]

it seemed like he was hyping himself up waay too much

This is definitely true, although if you're starting a new business and trying to get people on board, you don't go, "I kind of helped Undertale reach more people", you go all out, full on, "yeah bro my content is why people even KNOW what Hades is". He has an incredible reach, and I can see why he took that kind of approach in his video, but it does come off as very arrogant and self congratulatory

 

[KitChan]

This is definitely true, although if you're starting a new business and trying to get people on board, you don't go, "I kind of helped Undertale reach more people", you go all out, full on, "yeah bro my content is why people even KNOW what Hades is". He has an incredible reach, and I can see why he took that kind of approach in his video, but it does come off as very arrogant and self congratulatory

I doubt he's the reason Hades is popular. Everyone was going on about it everywhere while I heard not a wink about him.

 

[NewLoveMachine]

Ignoring his awful takes and massive ego, if he can stay true to just funding the indie devs and not interfering with development that's a great and I hope some good indie developed games come of this.

Nope, it's that you self publish as well. Else it ain't no indie, just a normal game studio.

So Wayforward, a well known indie developer, is actually a normal game studio because Arcsys published River City Girls yet the Shantae games are developed and published Wayforward?

 

[linuxares]

ISo Wayforward, a well known indie developer, is actually a normal game studio because Arcsys published River City Girls yet the Shantae games are developed and published Wayforward?

Correct, that is an Indie title. Since they self published it.
I never said they can't be a publisher as well? But a title isn't indie if it got a publisher. Just because it looks "pixel art" doesn't make it an indie game.

Even Valve that publish their own games, is a Indie title. If it's the same company that develop it and publish it, it's a Indie title. Since it have no involvement of a publisher. It's literally the most simple rule.

 

[KitChan]

Correct, that is an Indie title. Since they self published it.
I never said they can't be a publisher as well? But a title isn't indie if it got a publisher. Just because it looks "pixel art" doesn't make it an indie game.

Even Valve that publish their own games, is a Indie title. If it's the same company that develop it and publish it, it's a Indie title. Since it have no involvement of a publisher. It's literally the most simple rule.

Games where the publisher has minimal input outside of funding and distribution are also considered indie.

 

[sarkwalvein]

LMFAO HE SAID UNDERTALE’S SUCCESS WAS BECAUSE OF HIM?

People like him need to disappear. I don’t wish him to be hurt, just to realize how much of a dipshit he is and consider a career in farming or something, far away from people.

But why? The guy is hilarious, why would you deprive other people from so much fun? Such a joykill!