You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereIts no secret that the games industry is unstable right now. With veteran devs claiming the industry is unsustainable and massive projects fail weeks after release, its smaller developers like Larian Studios that are keeping gaming alive.After speaking at The Game Awards last December about the fight between developer and publisher, Larian Studios CEO and Baldurs Gate 3 director Swen Vincke has become an icon in the industry. As it turns out, the BG3 creator is not alone as Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley has backed the Larian lead as AAA publishers continue to fail not just gamers, but developers as well.Rebellion joins Larian against AAA publishersSpeaking to PC Gamer, Kingsley resonated with Vinckes statements at The Game Awards 2024. Ive been fighting with publishers my entire life, Vincke said on stage in front of the industrys biggest names. And I keep on seeing the same mistakes, over and over and over. Its always the quarterly profits. The only thing that matters is the numbers.Kingsley explained that not only was Vincke absolutely correct, but the story of the Larian leads struggles against publishers was very much the same as his. With a history of working with SEGA on Aliens vs Predator and Zenimax on a number of titles, Rebellion has a history of being put through the ringer by publishers.It cuts across every industry, the Rebellion CEO said. But I am aware a lot of my colleagues get frustrated from time to time by people who are potentially very good managers but arent specialists in the computer games area.While Rebellion is now isolated on its own, creating Sniper Elite and the just-released Atomfall with little external involvement, the studio is extremely familiar with interference from publishers.There are horror stories of people having external producers saying, Look, you just need to make fewer bugs, because then itll be faster to make.'REBELLION CEO JASON KINGSLEY ON AAA PUBLISHERSThere are horror stories of people having external producers saying, Look, you just need to make fewer bugs, because then itll be faster to make. And everybodys going Yeah, youre right, yeah. We really shouldnt have decided to put 1,500 bugs in,' the CEO said.Nevertheless, Kingsley explained that the massive wave of industry layoffs was inevitable due to the industrys reaction to the COVID pandemic. As user spending skyrocketed, companies over-invested in talent which only exacerbated cuts made by companies such as Xbox, PlayStation and other AAA companies this past year.I think possibly the games industry expanded a bit too fast during Covid, he said. You know, we had really good times, and everybody was locked in and was playing computer games. And then the correction came, yeah, and that correction has been very rapid and sudden, and, you know, bloody awful, quite frankly.While Rebellion hasnt made an internationally beloved title on the level of Baldurs Gate 3, its a studio with heart. There arent 700 developers working on a game at the studio which results in games that have not just an identity, but a soul.Ive loved running through the world of Atomfall far more than Ive enjoyed running through any COD mission in the last decade, and its because it actually feels like its made by people. Its the same as exploring Skyrim versus exploring Starfieldtheres just too many hands in the same pie and its resulting in mush.Baldurs Gate 3Platform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Adventure, RPG, Strategy10VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share