The 1UP publishing label is coming to an end. Owned by Blitz Games Studios (with titles like Dead to Rights: Retribution and Reservoir Dogs under their belt) 1UP was a label that handled casual, core and all-around indie games. However, due to the change in the market place and the way portals now handle indie games, the climate has shifted and some indie publishers are finding it hard to keep standing on their own two feet. Hence, the closure of the 1UP label.

According to an article on Develop, 1UP producer Neil Holmes basically lamented that the indie industry has once again hit a rough patch and that if you’re not getting your game on Steam, anywhere else practically leads you nowhere. He states that…

“Two years ago you could go through all of the portals and you could get business in all those portals. Now, if you go through Steam you can get good sales, and that’s about it; if you go through anywhere else you’re nowhere.”… “There’s not really a sustainable business model today for a lot of the indie studios, which is such a shame because there’s really so much creativity and so much great stuff that is in that area that just isn’t being seen and isn’t getting the exposure it should,”

Anytime you log into Steam, it is true that you’re likely to see an indie game or two on the promotional page that inevitably tries to get you to spend some hard earned cash. However, digital distribution is kind of monopolized by Steam and if you’re an indie publisher it makes sense that Valve’s digital distribution platform is the way to go. Reflexive used to be a good alternative but I’m not really sure what happened to them.

One thing that does make me curious, though, is why 1UP producer, Neil Holmes, is moving forward with his IndieCity digital portal when he already admitted that anywhere else [that isn’t Steam] gets you nowhere? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

You can check out the entire interview with Holmes and the topic of 1UP’s closure by heading on over to Develop.