"Fuck it, send it:" Peak co-creator's new publishing label is all about that 'Aggro Tone'

Another Crab's Treasure developer and Peak co-creator Aggro Crab is bankrolling and publishing video games under it's new label Aggro Crab Presents, becoming the latest indie studio (along with the likes of Innersloth and Landfall) to pay its success forward. But, why now? The honkingly obvious answer is because Peak was a barnstorming success that attracted over 20 million players worldwide (thanks, Dev Dive).

That, though, isn't the whole story. The indie studio had a small taste of that publishing life back in 2022, when it spent about a month working on a marketing campaign for a title called Subway Midnight (developed by friends of the studio). Aggro Crab's community and marketing lead Paige Wilson tells Vertical Slice those four weeks proved to be a "fun experiment" that opened the door to new possibilities.

Four years later, Aggro Crab is finally in a position to bite the bullet. Corey Warning, the company's new(ish) head of publishing, explains that Peak undoubtedly fast-tracked its new venture, but feels the real tipping point was when the team at PR firm Popagenda introduced Aggro Crab to precision platformer Rebounder.

"[The Popagenda team said] 'Hey, I don't know if you guys are still thinking about doing this, but you should check out this game.' And then we played it, and we decided that now was the right time to actually start taking it seriously," says Warning. 

Massive props to Rebounder developer ThirtyThree for crafting something so compelling that it birthed an entirely new publisher. History makers. 

Want to work with Aggro Crab? You'd better be down with that signature 'Aggro Tone'

Now that Aggro Crab has taken the plunge, what's the plan? Warning explains the studio is trying to learn from some of the "horror stories" playing out across the industry. There's no desire to triple in size and start pumping out projects under its new label. The mission is to let studios building video games that are "absolute GAS" (more on that later) take advantage of the Aggro Crab's marketing and community prowess, viewed by Warning as the studio's "superpower."

Wilson feels that Aggro Crab found an audience because it is completely transparent with players. "They just love to be in the loop. They love to feel like they know what's going on behind the scenes, and so when there's less communication towards your community, players feel less trust because they don't know what's happening," she explains.

"We love to talk about the failures. We love to talk about the successes, and it gives people more trust—but also more patience with our development [process]. We love to share the whole development [process] from start to finish when we're able."

Warning says his background was more "traditional" before joining Aggro Crab. "Everything felt very close to the chest, and moving over to Aggro Crab felt really liberating because it wasn't always like that." That's not to say the studio isn't strategic about what information it shares and how it communicates, but he says the team have a little devil on their collective shoulder that's always whispering "fuck it, send it." Aggro Crab wants to collaborate with devs who perhaps share that unhinged devotion to mischief.

"One part of our big vibe checks for the games we will be signing is, you know, we're very outspoken on our socials. We've been quoted for many a line, and we come with an 'Aggro Tone'," adds Wilson. "We talk very honestly about world events and all this kind of stuff. We cuss. We tell people to eat shit. We have a very direct approach to our community—and our community loves it. But we want to make sure the people we're signing with are also down for that."

Aggro Crab wants to ensure this whole endeavour remains sustainable. The studio has more resources than ever, but they are not infinite. It also intends to be very hands-on as a publisher, but stresses developers will retain creative control. "We love giving feedback. We love play testing these games that we're going to be signing with," says Wilson.

"It's just Aggro Crab that's play testing these games and giving feedback, so we never want to take time and focus away from not only the games we're developing, but also the games we're helping publish. We're making sure to keep the scope reasonable."

Right now, Aggro Crab Presents is looking to sign a maximum of two projects at a time—specifically because the studio isn't growing its team. The company is prioritising "intense, stylised games with an attitude" that will get to market in two years or less with a maximum budget of $500,000 USD. It states that prospective partners must be "down to share ideas back and forth." Oh, and generative AI is a big no no. "We’ll get your ass," Aggro Crab warns teams who might be considering using the divisive tech.

Indie publishers cannot single-handedly plug the financing gap—but they can help!

Warning doesn't believe indie publishers will somehow solve the financing crisis that has swept across the industry as a result of what he describes as "money flying around in some pretty unsustainable ways" during the pandemic. The problem is too big for a handful of (albeit very successful) indies to provide the cure, but if teams like Aggro Crab can change the narrative for a "little bit," it's still a net positive. 

On the subject of sustainability, the other pressing question I had in mind was perhaps more cynical: why not keep all of that Peak cheddar for themselves? Warning says Aggro Crab has always been generous with its time and resources (he explains that's why he wanted to join the crew), and suggests that because everybody on the team is so "marketing pilled" it was perhaps inevitable.

Wilson says the company has also been in the shoes of those studios looking for help—and even though Aggro Crab has been self-publishing for a while, the team would often catch wind of some deals and think "I just wish we could do it better."

Talking me through the above, Warning says Aggro Crab set out to build a contract it would be excited to sign. On the subject of ditching 100% recoup, specifically, he says it's a term that often does far more harm than good.

"I understand that a lot of people who are putting up money want to make their own back first, but I've been in a position so many times with projects where the last two or three months are some of the hardest," he says. "If you are not only trying to finish your game, but trying to do it in such a way where you're about to run out of money and you need that final payment on delivery, it just creates so much stress. Then, if you layer on top that the game needs to be successful enough so that you can keep money coming back in to survive until the next game—it's hard enough without all of that."

Warning says Aggro Crab wants to avoid piling pressure on developers that will no doubt already be going through it, and notes the company is open to finessing its publishing contract based on a team's individual needs.

If you're interested in pitching Aggro Crab, Warning will expect you to have your visual identity locked down and a cohesive vibe that feels "dialled in." He explains Rebounder already had a "strong" visual hook when it was recommended by Popagenda. That doesn't mean studios who haven't exactly layered on the polish will be punted out of the door, but there's an expectation that you deeply understand your project's DNA.

"ThirtyThree just had a lot of the look and the feel and the vibe sorted out like very early on for this one, and I think because we could tell that they were so confident in what they wanted to create, it also helped us feel confident in trusting them when we're collaborating together," says Warning.

"We had a conversation before PAX when we were getting a build together for the demo there, and I had a lot of feedback about the tutorial during this period. We basically ended the conversation with them being like 'trust us, we got it' and I've been working with them for long enough—and I've seen what they can pull off—that it was such an easy thing for me to just be like 'cool, that's all I needed to hear.' But, I think to that end too, we're not afraid to be loud if we feel like a project is steering in a direction that feels like it needs to be course corrected."

Warning reiterates that Aggro Crab has no interest in feeding its own ego by trying to put its own mark on somebody else's game. Largely because it's not conducive to successful collaboration, but also because, well, the studio has its own projects.

As for what the phrase 'Absolute GAS' means to Aggro Crab, Wilson explains the company is looking for teams who exude so much passion it "ignites the whole project." She wants everybody who fits that bill to pitch their their project to Aggro Crab over and over again. Get rejected? Come back for seconds. Maybe even thirds. She says that never-say-die attitude is worth its weight in gold.