New Blood publisher and founder Dave Oshry is deliberately avoiding the typical blockbuster strategy of churning out sequels to successful titles. Instead, Oshry aims to reinvest the profits from hits like Ultrakill into developing new and "artsy" projects, a decision he attributes to the company's independent status.
"I think a lot of studios would have a big hit like Ultrakill," Oshry stated, "and then they would maybe open a big office, or just milk the shit out of Ultrakill and do Ultrakill spinoffs, or use that money to make sequels. And I've decided to put that money into projects like Gloomwood and Fallen Aces, artsy projects like Tenebris Somnia." Oshry sees this approach as a direct benefit of not having external pressures from publishers or shareholders.
"The fact that we're one studio and that I control everything means that I can make those kinds of decisions," he explained. "If we had publishers or shareholders or investors, they would be like, ‘No, you need to take that money and reinvest it into things that are going to make more money so we can get bigger returns.’ They would be like, ‘You need to be working on Ultrakill spinoff games. You need to be working on Dusk 2, Faith: Chapter Four. Why haven't you made a survival crafting game out of this yet? You need to be reinvesting in the IPs and making money, money, money.’ And we're just like, ‘What cool thing do we want to do? What's coming down the pipe?’"
While New Blood is not entirely against revisiting its successful IPs, their approach differs from larger publishers. Games like Dusk and Amid Evil continue to receive updates, and discussions about a new Dusk episode or a full sequel have occurred. A Dusk spin-off, Dungeons of Dusk, is also in development, though it is being handled by a different developer. Oshry contrasts this with the strategy of major publishers, citing Ubisoft's handling of the Heroes of Might and Magic series as an example of an IP being "whored out all over the place for decades." He also pointed to the struggles of games like Marvel's Wolverine, suggesting it became a product of corporate design rather than creative vision.
Oshry believes that this independent approach is crucial to the company's success and ethos. "If I just forced David to make Dusk 2," Oshry said, "we never would have gotten Iron Lung. Iron Lung, Markiplier, $50 million [box office] never would have happened if I made David do Dusk 2. And now David Szymanski has got a movie that made $50 million, funded by a YouTuber. That doesn't happen if I don't run New Blood the way that I do. It works. It works for us."
Looking at the broader industry, Oshry observes the widespread layoffs and the perceived unsustainability of the blockbuster model, characterized by endless sequels and an obsession with intellectual property. "As we've seen with all the layoffs, developers are disposable, whether you make a hit game or not," he noted. "What is a hit? Your game can sell millions of copies, but it doesn't balance the balance sheet. So everybody gets laid off."
Despite industry challenges, Oshry maintains a positive outlook for New Blood. "People are always like, ‘Oh, the industry is dying and imploding’. We're doing fine. I guess we're the lucky ones. But I think we made our own luck by making the kind of games we want to make, and knowing that they'll sell to the kind of people who like our games."