BIGMODE

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About

BIGMODE is an indie video game publishing company launched by YouTubers videogamedunkey and Leahbee in September 2022. Created with the intention to "publish some of the best games out there," the company inspired memes and viral discussions on social media following its announcement. BIGMODE published its first game in May 2024.

History

On September 21st, 2022, YouTuber Jason "videogamedunkey" Gastrow (also known as Dunkey) announced the launch of BIGMODE, an indie video game publishing company established by Dunkey, his wife and fellow YouTuber Leahbee. The announcement video,^[1] in which Dunkey revealed that with the publishing company he aimed to "build up the games and the developers" to "help good games succeed and help them continue to succeed into the future," received over 1.3 million views on YouTube in one day (shown below).

I understand what kind of ideas always work, what ideas never work, what kind of ideas are fresh, or need to come back, and what is extremely played-out. For developers who want to go above and beyond and really deliver something special, I am the guy you want in your corner.

Dunkey also revealed Twitter,^[2] YouTube^[3] and Twitch^[4] channels for the company, which accumulated over 53,800, 17,500 and 1,900 subscribers in one day, respectively.

On May 9th, 2024, the first game published by BIGMODE, indie metroidvania exploration game Animal Well was releaed^[8] to very positive reviews (launch trailer shown below).

Online Reactions

The announcement on September 21st, 2022, was met with memes and viral discussions on Twitter and social media websites shortly after. Some users expressed hopes for the company, while others criticized Dunkey for thinking that his experience as a video game critic would translate into his game publishing business.

For example, on September 21st, Twitter^[5] user @davemakes made a tweet in which they wrote that "dunkey is about to learn some stuff the hard way," which received over 2,100 retweets and 26,100 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Later that day, Twitter^[6] user @TanukiGirlMichi posted a Dr. Manhattan Kills Rorschach meme that received over 1,100 retweets and 9,800 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Also that day, Twitter^[7] user @TastiestLemon posted a Drake Helps Lil Yachty With the Laptop meme that received over 490 retweets and 3,100 likes in one day (shown below).

Animal Well Release Reactions

On May 9th, 2024, indie exploration video game Animal Well, developed by Billy Basso and published by BIGMODE, was released. The game received very positive critic reviews, with an average score of 91 based on 18 reviews on Metacritic^[9] and an average score of 89 based on 26 reviews on OpenCritic^[10] on the release day (example post^[11] shown below).

The release was followed by users talking about BIGMODE's first game and making comments about Dunkey's success in his new endeavor. For example, video game publisher Dave Oshry wrote, "Looks like Dunkey can be a game publisher after all, lads.", with the post gaining over 80 reposts and 2,400 likes on X^[12] in one day (shown below, left).