Exploring Sabotage Studio’s strategy for balancing creativity and sustainability
In this episode, Thierry Boulanger discusses how a company like Sabotage Studio can thrive off of building games for a niche audience—specifically retro-themed indie games.
Bryant Francis, Senior Editor, GameDeveloper.com
July 11, 2025
57 Min Listen
With the video game industry going through a frustrating downturn, developers need all the insight they can get from studios staying afloat by avoiding huge swings and sticking to what they’re passionate about. This week senior editor Bryant Francis catches up with Sabotage Studio president and creative director Thierry Boulanger for insights on how the studio has stayed financially afloat and creatively inspired.
Earlier this year Sabotage released a free downloadable update for the 2023 retro turn-based role-playing game Sea of Stars called "Throes of the Watchmaker." It’s a substantial content drop, the kind many other developers would need to charge $5-$20 for to justify development, especially when making a game in a crowded genre.
Self-publishing and Kickstarter funding made Sea of Stars a success
According to Boulanger, Sabotage followed up the 2019 game The Messenger by deciding to turn to Kickstarter and self-publish their next game in order to better control their financial fate. Doing so was a huge risk—but opened the door to making the kind of games the studio thinks will succeed.
"The thing is, we weren't asking for the full budget of the game….that's because I don't want a royalty share where you invested so much that we only get a smaller share."
We wanted to pick Thierry's brain about making games in crowded genre,s building sustainable development practices, the best approaches to selling DLC, and the creative "vibe" that makes Sea of Stars and the studio's first game The Messenger so unique.
About the Game Developer Podcast
The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling the triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between of game development, sharing lessons and strategies fellow developers can use to hone their craft. The Game Developer Podcast is hosted by Bryant Francis, edited by Pierre Landriau, and features music by Mike Meehan.
Learn more about Sabotage Studio and Sea of Stars.
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