Dredge studio launches publisher to keep its contractors
Black Salt Games created a publisher to keep skilled contractors between projects.
Black Salt Games, the four-person New Zealand studio behind Dredge, launched Saltworks Entertainment, a publisher label designed to solve a problem indie developers know well: losing skilled contractors when a project ends.
Dredge sold 100,000 copies on day one and hit a million sales within a year. Black Salt kept its core team small to preserve creative control.
When self-publishing their next game, they realised contract staff brought in for final stages were discarded after release, taking their knowledge with them. Saltworks now keeps that talent and smooths the peaks and troughs of game development.
The label's first releases include Canvas City from Disc 2 Games (a tactics game about street skaters), and Nothing Lost from Team Trifold (a roguelike). All three studios work together in the same Christchurch office.
- 100,000 copies
- Dredge sales day one
- 1 million
- Dredge sales within one year
- four people
- Black Salt Games team size
- September
- Saltworks launch
Why it mattersThe model shows how an indie hit can fund a sustainable publishing structure that retains expertise rather than rebuilding from scratch each cycle.
AustraliaAustralian and New Zealand indie developers can see a blueprint for scaling success without losing the constraints and tight teams that made the original game work.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 3 h ago
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