Nate Purkeypile has been working as a solo developer since leaving Bethesda last year. He has now shared the reason behind leaving the studio after almost 15 years and the benefits of indie development.
The Axis Unseen
Purkeypile opened up about it in a recent interview with Bloomberg. He said that things at Bethesda changed drastically over the last years as its headcount grew from less than 100 people to over 400 employees.
“It ends up being a lot more managing of people and politics,” Purkeypile said of Bethesda’s transformation, which parent company ZeniMax was acquired by Microsoft last year.
He noted that it was really fun making games like Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. With the studio becoming larger, Purkeypile had to attend dozens of meetings per week, working with people “who have never worked on those titles or don’t know what’s expected of them.”
So he eventually decided to quit Bethesda in April 2021, starting one-man studio Just Purkey Games. Purkeypile is now working on his first title as indie developer, a “heavy metal horror hunting game” called The Axis Unseen.
I’m excited to announce The Axis Unseen, a Heavy Metal Horror Hunting game.
Hunt and track monsters. Upgrade your bow and your senses. Reach shelter before nightfall. Don’t forget that you are being hunted as well.
Wishlist now on Steam or the Epic Store! pic.twitter.com/HGOGgQLpjb
— Nate Purkeypile (@NPurkeypile) December 3, 2021
He shared some details and his experience of using Unreal Engine 5 last August, praising the engine’s tools and saying that it exceeded his expectations.
Of course, indie development has its own pitfalls as it is hard for smaller devs to reach the audience and attract players. The Axis Unseen’s debut trailer, for example, generated only 32k views on YouTube.
But Purkeypile is still optimistic about the future. He has no regrets about leaving Bethesda, saying that he has a lot of fun making games again while also being able to see his kids grow up.