Soren Johnson on keeping his game studio small: 'You get better games if you take longer to make games'

Soren Johnson on keeping his game studio small: ‘You get better games if you take longer to make games’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Platforms ‘Golden goose’ indie games get Gabe Newell’s attention, says Steam expert: ‘You’re like a little goblin that has a magical power to turn straw into gold’ Gaming Industry New Blood boss Dave Oshry ‘quadruples down’ on supporting GOG after worrying about its future, committing to sales, demos, one-click mods, plus day-and-date releases alongside Steam Roguelike ‘I’m not sure it was a rational decision’: Caves of Qud devs ported the roguelike to Nintendo Switch because they’re ‘interested in solving impossible problems’ Sim I crashed out reading layoff condolence letters in this shop sim about a laid-off adventurer made by a laid-off Xbox developer Gaming Industry An indie asking for $250,000 is ‘a drop in the bucket’ says Tunic’s publisher, but indies are in a ‘survival’ era because companies think that ‘isn’t profitable enough’ to fund Strategy ‘Realtime-with-pause is not dead,’ says lead designer of promising turn-based game Star Wars Zero Company Gaming Industry ‘We’re playing game designs from 2005 still’: Caves of Qud’s co-creator wants to build new kinds of sicko gameplay systems that’ll use all the processing potential being left untapped Gaming Industry Ultima’s Robert Garriott was worried about there being too many PC games on the market… 37 years ago Gaming Industry ‘The industry’s in a really horrible place,’ Brenda Romero says: ‘We were there in the ’80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier’ Gaming Industry ‘You would not believe the number of AI games in our inbox’ says Tunic’s publisher ‘I am tired of seeing it’ Games The best laptop games Games The best indie games on PC Roguelike Slay the Spire 2 is one of the year’s biggest hits, which is a good time to remember it abandoned Unity because of the dev fee debacle: ‘That is how badly you f****d up’ RPG Disco Elysium writers marvel at how a game made ‘in a f**king squalid flat’ in Estonia had such a huge impact, and welcomes successors like Esoteric Ebb: ‘We make games, but we also like them’ Gaming Industry Indie devs should avoid ‘most indie publishers’ says Manor Lords indie publisher Hooded Horse: ‘The vast majority of indie publishers are predatory and opportunistic’ PopularSpring SaleClipsCrimson DesertMarathonBest PC gearQuizzes Gaming Industry Old World Soren Johnson on keeping his game studio small: ‘You get better games if you take longer to make games’ News By Tyler Wilde published 27 March 2026 The Old World designer has a “giant list of games it’d be fun to make,” but Mohawk Games will move at its own pace. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Soren Johnson speaking at GDC 2022. (Image credit: GDC) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 1 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Amid the doom and gloom in the games industry right now—the mass layoffs, the studio closures, the declarations that TikTok is winning the attention war—there are still little studios plugging away at good, niche games and making it work. Mohawk Games, founded in 2013 by ex-Firaxis developers, is one of them.Mohawk is about to release new DLC for its excellent 2021 grand strategy game, Old World, and studio co-founder Soren Johnson told me at GDC earlier this month that revenue from the game is enough to sustain the company, which has purposefully remained small at 15 people.”We’re trying to build a sustainable studio,” Johnson told me. “And, frankly, a lot of that has come down to not over-hiring, right? We’ve been roughly at the same size for a long time, and we take it seriously. We really don’t want to be laying off our staff, and we know if we double our size, we’re taking that risk.”Article continues below You may like CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse wants it to be ‘a positive influence and a great company for 100 plus years’ by fighting AI and treating devs ethically ‘It’s weird in the industry right now’: Cult of the Lamb’s devs still have faith that the indie scene will continue dishing out ‘smash hits’ CEO of Kitfox Games reckons hundreds of hours playing Civilization could be the secret to the Dwarf Fortress publisher’s success: ‘Maybe Kitfox wouldn’t be as successful if I didn’t know how to altern