The Indie Inside Manifesto

A novel proposal for studios to retain talent and capability during the industry’s hardest transformation in decades.

Photo by kate.sade on Unsplash

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• The industry’s recent layoffs have revealed how fragile studio structures become when costs rise and markets tighten.

• The Indie Inside Manifesto offers a novel way for studios to retain capability and talent when financial pressure demands cost reductions.

• The model: developers can shift to 60 percent employment and use the remaining time for their own projects, with full IP ownership.

• For developers, Indie Inside provides a safe way to explore personal ideas without quitting their job or betting their savings.

• Studios gain a more flexible organisation, keep talent attached, and can scale up when needed without crunch.

• Indie Inside is not charity or a perk, but a practical response to a shifting industry facing its hardest transformation in years.

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Over the past two years, I’ve laid off more than 300 people. “Right-sizing” and “streamlining,” as the consultants call it. These were necessary decisions made to keep the company alive. But it was painful for everyone.

Across the industry, teams have been reduced, departments have closed, and studios have folded. Behind each announcement sits the same story: companies realising that the last decade’s expansion built more weight than the current market could carry.

The people leaving aren’t less talented than they were a month earlier. Their passion for making games doesn’t vanish because the market shifts. Yet we’ve created a system where creative talent is hired aggressively in good years and released just as aggressively when conditions tighten.

Being in the middle of that turmoil, I found myself returning to an idea I wrote almost a decade ago—an idea that might have been premature then, but feels increasingly relevant now. It offered a way for studios to stay resilient during downturns, and a way for developers to explore ideas without risking their savings.

Indies on the inside

Ten years ago, I drafted a short manifesto—Indie Inside—about how established studios could support indie development. The idea felt a little utopian at the time. Most companies were growing and the industry didn’t feel any urgency to rethink how people made games or how studios structured their teams.

The premise was simple: employees could choose to work 60 percent at their studio and 40 percent on their own projects. Their indie work would be fully theirs—creatively and commercially—and the company would adjust their contract accordingly. A structured, sanctioned way of exploring ideas without quitting your job or compromising your financial stability.

Today, Indie Inside no longer feels utopian. It feels like a way to be lean without losing people. A way to protect the skills the industry keeps investing in, then discards when things tighten. A way to let developers explore ideas that might never find space inside a traditional roadmap.

Why Now

The industry has always cycled between growth and correction, but the past two years have exposed something deeper than a temporary downturn. We’ve built organisations that are excellent at shipping large games and terrible at handling uncertainty.

At the same time, the creative centre of gravity is shifting. Small teams have shown how much can be done with the right mix of experience, technology, and focus. The distance between a two-person prototype and a commercially viable release has never been shorter. Yet many of the people best positioned to take that leap never do, because the personal risk is too high.

This is the tension the industry now faces. Companies need flexibility, and developers need room to explore. Neither gets what they need from the current model.

Indie Inside sits in that gap. It gives companies a way to adjust costs without severing relationships, and it gives developers a structured space to test their ideas. Instead of losing people entirely, a studio keeps them working, engaged, and available. And a developer can experiment while maintaining personal stability.

There is also a larger ecosystem effect. When experienced developers start small projects of their own, they broaden the creative landscape. Most of those projects will fail, but a few will turn into serious businesses. And all of them expand the industry’s capacity to take creative risks at a time when larger companies are more cautious than ever.

The Corporate Case: Flexibility & Capability

As counterintuitive as it may seem at first glance, the appeal of Indie Inside for game companies begins with something crucial: flexibility. Studios spend years hiring talented people, building specialised teams, and developing internal knowledge. When markets tighten, that investment disappears with redundancies. The company saves money, but it also loses capability, culture, and hard-won experience.

Indie Inside changes that adjustment. Instead of ending relationships, a company can lower payroll costs while keeping its people involved in the work they know. A team with several developers on Indie Time may run, say, at an average 80 percent capacity most of the year. This gives the organisation room to scale up when needed, asking part-timers to return to full-time for a period, without resorting to crunch or scrambling for contractors who lack context. In practice, this creates a more predictable and resilient production organisation, not a weaker one.

There’s also a talent attraction dimension. Indie Inside appeals to experienced, self-driven developers who want both meaningful studio work and the freedom to build something of their own. It turns the studio into a place where ambitious creatives can grow in multiple directions, not just one.

Furthermore, when people pursue side projects, they learn skills and take responsibility outside their narrow discipline. Designers think more about production. Programmers think about asset creation. Artists think about timelines and budgets. These experiences flow back into their main work, making developers more capable collaborators.

Finally, there is the simple commercial opportunity: some indie projects succeed. Most don’t, but a few will show real potential. A company that already knows the creators, understands their strengths, and believes in their judgment is in a natural position to invest, publish, or partner. Indie Inside becomes a quiet incubator, producing opportunities that would never have emerged inside a tightly planned development pipeline.

None of these benefits require a company to be altruistic. They follow straightforward operational logic, and they align with the long-term interests of both the organisation and its people.

The Developer Case: Room to Explore

The desire to create something personal is common in our industry, but the cost of pursuing it is high. Leaving a stable job to build an indie game is a full-risk decision for an individual or a small founding team. You burn your savings. You lose your routine. You step out of the context that gave you confidence.

Indie Inside removes the binary choice. Instead of “stay employed or jump into the unknown,” developers get a middle path: room to explore an idea without betting their entire career on it. They keep their colleagues, their stability, their connection to the industry, and most of their salary. If the project has potential, they can push it further. If it doesn’t, they return to full-time work without having derailed their lives. People who would never take a full leap can suddenly explore what they’re capable of.

And the learning is real. Small projects force you to confront every part of development. You discover the gaps in your knowledge, and you gain a different kind of ownership over your craft. That experience also flows back into your main work, regardless of whether the indie attempt ultimately succeeded or failed.

What It Looks Like in Practice

Indie Inside only works if it’s practical. The idea sounds idealistic, but the implementation is straightforward. Studios already handle a steady flow of scheduling adjustments: vacations, parental leave, sick leave, onboarding, departures, promotions, and the reality of people splitting time across multiple projects. Adding Indie Time to that mix is just another variable in a system that already adapts constantly.

For it to work, we need alignment. People on Indie Time should be off on the same days each week. Teams can plan around a predictable rhythm, and the organisation knows exactly where it can scale up in critical situations, by asking employees on Indie Time to come back to full-time for a defined period, when a project genuinely needs the extra hands.

To be clear, Indie Time isn’t a perk. It comes with a 40 percent pay cut. It’s a choice. And because it’s open to everyone, there’s no built-in unfairness. The main point is simple: this isn’t a radical experiment in flexible work. It’s a structured, predictable arrangement that slots into how studios already operate.

The Difficult Questions

Of course, every idea that touches team structure, money, and creative ambition brings a set of hard questions. Indie Inside is no exception. Let’s step through a few of the potential concerns.

Will people save their best ideas for their indie project?
Some leaders worry that employees will give the company their leftovers. It’s a reasonable concern, but creativity doesn’t work like that. People don’t ration inspiration, and many already have small ideas or side projects they explore at home. If someone is genuinely disengaged from their day job, the issue isn’t the side project, it’s the day job.

Will only senior developers make use of it?
Possibly. Seniors and financially secure employees are more likely to try Indie Time. But that’s a reflection of how risk works in real life. Juniors still benefit: when seniors shift to 60 percent, space opens up. They can take on responsibilities they wouldn’t otherwise get, and they grow faster. And because Indie Time is open to everyone, there’s no structural inequity built into the model.

Will it create managerial friction?
Absolutely. Any change does. But production teams already manage constant shifts in staffing and capacity. Indie Time adds another variable, not a new category of complexity. The solution is discipline: aligned schedules, predictable days, and a clean transition into the 60 percent mode.

Will the studio deliver less when some people work at 60 percent?
Yes. A team running below full capacity will produce less in steady state. But the predictability matters: you know exactly where the gaps are, and you gain the ability to scale up when needed by asking Indie Time developers to return temporarily to full-time. That flexibility is often more valuable than maintaining a fragile 100 percent on paper. It helps avoid crunch, preserves project knowledge, and keeps capability inside the studio rather than risk losing it entirely.

Is Indie Inside a fit for every situation?
No. Some companies face structural or financial pressures that require deeper changes— closing teams or cancelling projects. That was my recent situation. In those cases, reducing individual capacity doesn’t solve the underlying problem. Indie Inside is designed for studios that still believe in their long-term capability and want to preserve it, even in tighter conditions.

Could Indie Inside become a cost-cutting tactic?
It may be seen that way, especially in a pressured market, but the model only works if it remains voluntary. A company can’t push people into Indie Time. And even if a studio introduces it during a downturn partly as a cost-saving tool, the outcome is still better than losing people entirely.

Is it legally complicated?
In some jurisdictions, maybe. But none of the core principles violate standard employment structures. It’s simply a part-time arrangement, paired with a clear agreement about intellectual property. Most of the perceived risk is cultural rather than legal.

The Indie Inside Manifesto

To make this as concrete as possible, here’s an updated 2025 version of my original manifesto:

We, the Indie Inside companies, believe that everyone thrives when developers have room to explore ideas both inside and outside their regular work. We commit to a flexible model that supports our internal projects while giving employees a stable and realistic way to pursue personal ones. Indie Inside is built on a simple idea: people and studios succeed when talented developers feel trusted, motivated, and able to grow in more than one dimension.

Our commitments and expectations:

1. Voluntary reduced-time employment
   Any full-time employee may request to shift to 60 percent employment, with salary adjusted accordingly. The move will be planned with each team to avoid unnecessary disruption, so timing may vary, but we commit to making the shift in a timely manner.

2. Focus during studio hours
   Employees on Indie Time commit to giving their full focus and engagement to studio work during their 60 percent schedule.

3. Protected time for personal projects
   The remaining 40 percent is the employee’s independent project time. The studio will not assign work, interrupt, or schedule meetings during those hours.

4. Clear scheduling
   Employees on Indie Time align their days off, giving teams predictable rhythms and allowing the studio to plan reliably.

5. Temporary scaling when needed
   If a project enters a critical phase, the studio may ask Indie Time employees to return to full-time for a defined period. This is fully compensated, and time-bound.

6. Full ownership of independent work
   Projects created during Indie Time belong entirely to the employee, provided they do not directly compete with the studio’s active products or confidential work. Clear IP boundaries are documented at the start of Indie Time participation.

7. Optional first-look for investment
   If an Indie Inside project seeks external investment or publishing partners, the studio may request a first conversation to explore involvement. Any potential such partnership must be mutually agreed and on fair commercial terms.

8. Basic equipment access
   Employees may use standard company hardware (computers, phones) for Indie Time, subject to a written IP waiver, as long as it does not affect daily operations. Proprietary tools require explicit permission.

9. Path back to full-time
   Employees who wish to return to full-time will be accommodated whenever reasonably possible.

10. Open eligibility
    Indie Time is accessible to all employees regardless of seniority. Participation is a choice, not a privilege.

Closing

I’m not presenting Indie Inside as a silver bullet or a moral obligation. It’s simply a novel way to navigate a moment when the industry feels both overbuilt and under-supported, and when too many good developers are left without a clear path forward.

I’ve seen how quickly organisations lose engagement and capability when headcount drops. I’ve also seen how much people can grow when they have the space to try something of their own. Indie Inside meets those two realities in the middle. It gives flexibility to studios and keeps developers connected to the work they know, while giving them a fair chance to build something that might not fit inside a large production pipeline.

The industry will keep changing, with or without us. Indie Inside is one way to adapt with a bit more flexibility, a bit more resilience, and a bit more care for the people who make the work possible.

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This essay is part of my ongoing series, Connecting the Pixels, where I explore how technology, creativity, and culture intersect in the future of interactive entertainment.