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Prmagazine > News > News > Digital Bandidos wants to be an outlaw publisher that fights for devs | Steve Escalante
Digital Bandidos wants to be an outlaw publisher that fights for devs | Steve Escalante

Digital Bandidos wants to be an outlaw publisher that fights for devs | Steve Escalante


Digital Bandidos Last year was the founding of an independent game publishing company, just as many publishers went bankrupt.

lead Steve Escalante and Lance JamesThe company has raised millions of dollars and is helping fill the gaps and funding independent game developers. Given the 17,000 mini-games in a given year, this is not an easy task, and the game studio is gone.

But with decades of experience, Escalante said in an interview with GamesBeat that his company can provide expert guidance and act as clumsy Outlaws, who can represent independent game developers to fight injustice, and therefore can name Digital Bandidos.

One of the company’s latest projects is to get them: Onslaught, a horror experience like a survivor, everything from alien tribes to vibrant weather can attract you. It was developed by Tuatara Games in Denver, Colorado. It was unveiled at the Mix anda Funny Spring showcase on GDC 2025. The game will be released by Digital Bandidos on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC later this year.

Let them: Attack on a fierce attack on a alien world and attack the terrifying terror, only one
Way Out – Nuclear Weapon from Orbit! Each weapon selection and upgrade will affect your chances
Survive. Fight against overwhelming odds until the timer reaches zero, nuclear weapons drop, upgrade
The battlefield is in a spectacular way.

“It was great to work with the talented team at Digital Bandidos and I’m so glad I’m
Previously used with Let the Franchise as a former champion. ” Klemen Lozar said
Tuatara Games’ Games Director in a statement. “We are excited to bring the game to a wide range of
Come to audiences by hitting all the major platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Switch. ”

Tuatara Games is just one of the studios that have previously worked with independent publishing companies
Digital Bandidos veterans. The publisher has also re-engaged with other former studio partners, which means the development of trust developers in the team. More updates on this and many other titles will be provided in the coming weeks.

“You always want the team you worked with in the past to want to work with you again.”
Escalante said. “The relationships in this industry are crucial; the lifeblood of my 25 years of working in the game. Having signed a former team with Soulstone survivors and adding, Let them come: The storm on our slate supports the goals of both companies. First, the game can be cross-promoted with each other through a shared audience. Second, work with someone you like, knowing they can deliver and create a great gaming experience. “Although Soulstone survivors and let them come: Onslaught is all suitable for the survivor/bullet heaven type, everyone releases a uniquely thrilling spin that causes on the formula. fan
Genres can expect explosive action and intense challenges, and it’s quickly discovered that the unique tone, style and gameplay of each title ensures two completely different and equally exciting experiences. ”

Digital Bandidos co-founders Steve Escalante (left) and Lance James (right).
Digital Bandidos co-founders Steve Escalante (left) and Lance James (right).

“Instead of wielding a rapier, a bow or an explosive, we have decades of knowledge and cutting-edge experience in game publishing. The company’s web page says we aim to arm independent developers to take on the growing market for competitive gaming and win.

Escalante believes his company can help developers and understand them because they have been enthusiastic gamers since childhood. Escalante wants to create a modern publisher to address the major challenges facing developers.

Digital Bandidos was unveiled in August 2024 by With Evilincluding founder and general manager Escalante. The company recently added CFO Richard Iwaniuk, marketing director Richard Iggo and communications manager James Batchelor.

Digital Bandidos plans to bring Mobile Game Town sales 2 (a sequel to the social deduction game) to Curtrant-Generation PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles later this year.

The company is also preparing updates on many other projects in 2025 and beyond, including the latest Soulstone survivors and several new games developed.

Digital Bandidos is a full-service publisher currently looking for PC and console titles with a development budget of up to $3 million. It specializes in role-playing, strategy and action games, but is open to any genre on any platform.

The industry’s difficult resonance

Soulstone Survivor

“Obviously, the atmosphere and the gloomy tone are very different. We’ve been trying to figure out the industry’s problems because of the turmoil and things that happened after sales and evil last year,” Escalante said. “What is the demand for the industry? It’s exciting for me to go back to talking about gaming courts and things that can help India.”

Escalante noted that triple games are still in a tough state, and that when the Warner Bros. and Ubisoft teams are still laying off significantly in 2025, things should have been better. An estimated 35,000 gaming industry has been fired over the past three years.

“India still hasn’t received funding. These things are still heavy in the industry at the moment,” Escalant said. “I’m talking to a lot of teams, many of whom have exhausted their money.”

He noted that it is important that game engine manufacturers Unity and Epic Games do not have much influence in GDC’s showrooms this year.

“That’s their recurrence. The publisher is gone. The developers have their own rights,” he said.

Who needs a new publisher?

Let them attack

Encouragingly, new publishers like Digital Bandidos have been formed, as well as recently acclaimed entertainment. Escalante believes that even during the recession, the publisher’s basic mission will not disappear. These tasks include providing funding, marketing, transplanting, development help, and more.

“Bandidos really focuses on the tools and things we can help the industry to help those who do it,” Escalante said. “We are developing some of these right now. But I agree. The optimism of having publishers with the idea of ​​funding is a good sign, but, as I said, we still see some of the consequences of these publishers not making or running out of money.”

As for the recent Matthew Ball Slide deck, Escalante has a strong opinion. Over the past year, he has spent a lot of time talking about challenges in conferences.

“What I really really see is the first issue is the retention and post-game support after the release,” Escalant said. “Of course, the funding has to happen first. There are a lot of teams who will still go into the trenches and do it themselves. But the other issue is finding that not a lot of people are talking about as much as they should.”

Escalante said Digital Bandidos is very focused on this discovery, retained and post-release support. This helps the game sell more units, which is crucial. He noted that the Epic Games store and Steam offer some support, but they are doing it for a small part of the launch title.

“I think the community will be one of the most powerful marketing tools for people, whether it’s leveraging discord people, whether it’s leveraging more grassroots types. How do I need to build this guerrilla marketing strategy to build this approach from the perspective of how I get people excited about the game?”

Developers need to break down their journey with players and how they get the flywheel of viral growth if they plan to release correctly. Getting a lot of wishlists is great for the game, but if they are two, they are not good.

“Triple-A just inserted cash and announced the news on the big stage. “The Indians were forced to go through guerrilla marketing,” Escalant said. “They were forced to declare two to three years. A Triple-A company can even drop a game on launch day. ”

He added: “It’s been an interesting journey for me because I’ve been questioning myself and how we provide content to our partners. We’ll have more discussions about this in the future, but for India it’s an uphill battle. How do we mitigate these risks.”

While independent hits like Balatro and Animal are good, it’s still hard to stand out in the 19,000 games launched on Steam (2024 numbers).

Make yourself apart

Salem Town 2

Digital Bandidos has grown to seven people and it wants to stay small and agile. One of the titles of one of the Soulstone survivors is already on the market and over a million units have been sold on PC. Digital Bandidos will handle console releases. Salem 2 is coming, as is a new title called “Let them stand out.”

Digital Bandidos, with one of these titles, hopes to promote developers’ funds to start a new title while waiting for the first one to stand out. Escalante said most of the new games will be played later this year and early next year.

While new releases like the upcoming Switch 2 might be fascinating, Escalante focuses on today’s platforms that install basic large-scale foundations, such as the PlayStation 5. Escalante also wants to bring titles like Salem Town Salem to alternative platforms such as Telegram or Discord.

“If my income increased by 5%, I never shy away from platforms,” he said. “If it only cost me so much to get into these platforms, it’s done because the tail is long.”

Get up in the morning

Let them attack

Escalante started the competition about 25 years ago. He noted that he recently lost his friend Carter Lipscomb, who also spent decades in the industry. Lipscomb helped Escalante release his first game himself. This starts on the Independent Track Escalante. Some friends will win a wake-up for Lipscomb at a game developer meeting Monday.

Escalante has been running for evil for about 10 years, but he still feels there is a good job to do. He had a conversation with 100 people who said they still needed publishers.

“Many of the developers we talked to said, ‘I’m glad you did that. We would love to work with you.’” Escalante said. “It’s a good validation for the right people.” I love the game about their development team and how to help them. I wake up in the morning. I think I’m very lucky. ”


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