With major publishers struggling, Maryland’s indie game developers are looking to capitalize on the industry’s power shift.
A decade ago, acquisition was considered the ultimate measure of indie success; today, many developers don’t see it that way.
That evolution has been years in the making, driven by indie studios’ access to popular distribution platforms and the growing availability of advanced development tools. A decade ago, acquisition was considered the ultimate measure of indie success; today, many developers don’t see it that way.
“It’s much better if you can start small and grow as needed, rather than trying to fuel that buyer artificially by throwing money at the problem,” Lucien Parsons, of Dragon Snacks Games, said.
Especially as companies like Microsoft pivot toward AI over gaming — a gamble that’s paying off at least in the short term — the creative freedom and chance to generate their own revenue is increasingly appealing, founders told Technical.ly.
Plus, ballooning costs and longer production cycles are squeezing margins across major studios. Meanwhile, indies are seeing revenues grow faster, generating hits on comparably shoestring budgets.
But often, these pivots come from turning a bout of misfortune into an opportunity. In Maryland, a hotbed for gaming startups, the stories behind indie studios often start with layoffs.
New studios rise from layoffs
In 2020, gaming took off, as folks stayed home with little else to do. Things looked promising for gaming departments, like ZeniMax Media — known for Bethesda Game Studios’ work like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout — getting scooped up by Microsoft for $7.5 billion.
Maryland’s gaming industry contributed more than $1 billion to the state economy and supported over 2,800 jobs in 2023, according to the Entertainment Software Association, a video game trade group.
By July 2025, though, Microsoft’s ZeniMax Media laid off 160 workers at its Rockville location as part of wider workforce reductions.
So, what happened? Development costs rose into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and many titles failed to deliver expected returns when people started to go out again.
It’s a tough landscape, but for some former Microsoft employees, the switch led to a new venture: Sackbird Studios. It emerged a few months after the July 2025 cuts, with a majority Maryland-based team.
The group, which worked on the unceremoniously canceled Project Blackbird at ZeniMax, formed a worker-owned team to ensure complete control over creative decisions. And it’s a good time to be a smaller studio. Nearly half of the top-performing games on Steam in 2025 were indie titles.
The big setback, like everywhere else, is cash. Sackbird is entirely self-funded with just enough runway for the first few years, according to COO David Worley.
Its future relies on creating a smash hit, and it can’t just go back to making another Project Blackbird, as Microsoft still owns the IP and it requires big-budget assets.
“We have to be successful enough to maintain that freedom,” Worley said.
But luckily for Sackbird, the indie market offers cheaper options for gamers, and Gen Z is increasingly cost-aware.
Gen Z offers a path forward
Game spending for Gen Z fell by 25% last year, a significantly steeper drop-off than older generations, according to US research firm Circana.
To get them back as customers, firms like Dragon Snacks Games are developing a title with younger players in mind. It starts with meeting them where they are, according to Parsons, who works at the studio.
Discord has become an integral part of gaming culture for Gen Z. The Dragon Snacks team — made up of local developers and veterans of Maryland studios — launched a Discord server to gather early feedback directly from potential players to help guide the development process.
Plus, for even younger players, there’s a gap in games for those graduating from Minecraft and Roblox, who are looking for a more mature option that still offers the social and immersive aspects many of them enjoy, Parsons says.
While indies enjoy the flexibility of smaller teams and more creative liberties, they’re still battling for the attention of an increasingly fractured audience.
“There are literally hundreds of games coming out a day on Steam,” Parsons said. “But there aren’t necessarily the high-quality, larger games that are focused on very particular market segments.”
