What is Mad Mushroom? Everything about OTK's game-publishing initiative explored

On June 10, 2023, streamer organization One True King (OTK) hosted their annual gaming expo, during which they announced their own game publishing initiative - Mad Mushroom. According to their official website, it comprises a team of creators who have a "commitment to innovation." They went on to say that they dislike "corporate speak," and that their goal is to get the work of independent game studios "out to the world."

The co-owners of One True King also released a six-minute video, detailing various aspects of their new initiative.

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Asmongold, Tips Out, Emiru, and Sodapoppin discuss their roles in Mad Mushroom and their new endeavor

In a video titled, Introducing Mad Mushroom, OTK co-owner Chance "Sodapoppin" claimed that the streamer organization's new venture is a "little different" from other game-publishing companies because they want to cut out the "middleman":

"Mad Mushroom is a publishing company that is going to be a little different from other publishing companies. We made Mad Mushroom to kind of cut out the middleman and really give much better offers to these developers."

Emily "Emiru" continued further, saying that because their team consists of popular streamers, the publishing company has access to marketing tools. According to her, they can promote the games organically.

MMORPG personality Zack "Asmongold" elaborated on how content creators can assist independent game studios. He said:

"Development process for games and publishing them, I mean, this is a multi-year process. So, being able to be there the entire way through and understanding, kind of how an audience is going to adapt and react to a game whenever it comes out, and see how people will enjoy it. And be able to predict that, I think that's a unique insight that we can provide as content creators."

Sodapoppin added that he has been in the industry for 15 years and has been able to find some of the most exciting indie games to play on his channel. He went on to say that he would use these abilities in Mad Mushroom:

"I've been doing it for 15 years, taking lists of games and I go through and I find what's good and what's not good. And, there are some good games, especially, like, the indie games that are not published. My role, I would say, is to find those games and say, 'Hey, this is a gem! This game is amazing, we should get this on a pedestal and let everyone see it.'"

As the video concluded, OTK co-founder Tips Out stated that the streamer organization had long desired to be a part of the game-development industry:

"Ultimately, as lifelong gamers and people that are passionate about this space, we've wanted to get into game development for a long time. Mad Mushroom gives us the opportunity to enter the games industry, while at the same time, elevating and amplifying the message of hundreds of indie developers."

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Fans react to OTK's announcement

OTK's announcement has gained quite a lot of traction on Twitter. Here's what the streaming community had to say:

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In addition to OTK, prominent YouTuber Jason "Videogamedunkey" also entered the game-development industry by announcing his publishing company, Bigmode. At the time of writing, they are working on a puzzle-platformer game called Animal Well.