#74 - How Jackbox Games navigated the post-pandemic sales slump ft. Mike Bilder

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Jackbox Games CEO Mike Bilder joins senior editor Bryant Francis to discuss how the makers of the Jackbox Party Pack series survived the—in hindsight—inevitable decline of sales after the end of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It’s a trend that’s battered game developers all over the industry, and if Jackbox had overexpanded after its success, things could have taken a turn for the worst.

Instead, Jackbox has endured the downturn and set up a new publishing arm to support other developers making weird, unique comedy games like Toot Games’ My Arms Are Longer Now. We're quizzing Bilder about Jackbox's strategy for navigating hard times and what kinds of games it wants to publish.

Learn more about Jackbox Games: https://www.jackboxgames.com/

Learn more about My Arms Are Longer Now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2646170/My_Arms_Are_Longer_Now/

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

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Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau