We continue to wrap up the year 2025 with teams from the gaming industry or those related to it. Next up is an interview with Dmitry Svetlov, head of the studio Odd Meter.
How was the year 2025 for your team? What were you able to accomplish, what are you proud of, and what did you not manage to do?
In 2025, we received a bunch of awards for INDIKA. I am probably most proud of the Game Designer Award that we won at the Tokyo Game Show 2025. It's still hard to believe that some of the most renowned Japanese game designers considered INDIKA the most significant game development event of 2024.
Also, at the beginning of 2025, we started full-scale work on our new, fairly ambitious, and yet unannounced project. I am very hopeful that soon we'll be able to announce a powerful deal that's in the works, but for now, it's a secret.
What conclusions did you draw as a game development studio by the end of 2025?
Lately, I have the feeling that we are at the beginning of some tectonic shift in aesthetics and creativity. In my perception, there is an extraordinarily fast devaluation of "beauty" in the broad consumer sense. There's so much beautiful and high-quality work around that the "objective" standards we once used to measure creative results no longer apply. The value of a piece of art is measured by some elusive new criteria. I haven't quite figured out how to live in this new reality yet. But if at one point we find we don't know the name of the artist who's playing in our headphones, now this artist doesn't even have a name, and there are as many songs on their new album as we want (yes, I enjoy listening to AI-written songs).
Has the practice of interacting with publishers/investors changed? Has it become easier or harder to work with them?
Working with investors has become more challenging compared to the prosperous post-COVID years. I think this is not news, but the trend in 2025 feels positive. Working with publishers seems to have gotten easier. The industry crisis hit, and many realized they need to become more accommodating.
How was the year for the niche/genre you work in?
On one hand, narrative genres have drawn skepticism from investors and publishers in the past couple of years. On the other, many strategic investors are taking interest in studios with strong IPs and a unique vision. Many believe that technical execution is becoming less important, with the uniqueness of the project coming to the forefront.
What trends in your niche/genre do you expect to strengthen or emerge in 2026?
I feel it's harder than ever to predict anything right now.
What are the team's plans for 2026?
We continue working on the new project, stay tuned for announcements. We're also expanding. Check out our website — we have many open positions!