New Blood is willingly losing money on consoles — and it’s a deliberate choice

New Blood is choosing players over platform profit – and it changes how we read indie ports

Indie publishers talk about “supporting players” a lot. New Blood Interactive actually pays for it. Dave Oshry has confirmed the studio will keep releasing on consoles – including plans for Switch 2 – even though Steam is where the money is. That’s not virtue signaling: it’s a conscious decision to swallow certification costs, awkward optimizations and lower margins because “our players want it.”

• Key takeaway: New Blood prioritizes community reach over pure platform returns.
• Oshry confirmed Switch 2 dev kits and said Dusk already hits 120 fps with mouse controls on the hardware (Steam News).
• The Dungeons of Dusk demo landed on Steam Next Fest, showing the game’s turn‑based RPG shift and preserving the original DUSK vibe (Steam News, Alpha Beta Gamer).
• This is a deliberate, repeatable strategy for a few indies — but it raises sustainability questions about certification costs and post‑launch support.

Why New Blood will keep taking the hit

Oshry’s position is refreshingly blunt: Steam is the financial backbone, consoles are a community service. In a recent Steam News interview he said he doesn’t “ever want to be mainstream,” and that New Blood publishes on consoles despite the “pain” of certification because players expect it. That line — publish for the community, not just the top line — is what separates a marketing talking point from an actual business choice.

It’s not unprecedented. Ports of DUSK, Ultrakill and other retro shooters have shown smaller teams can reach new audiences on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. What’s different here is the explicit trade‑off. Oshry admits the optimization and certification work is costly. He knows the numbers. He’s choosing community goodwill and preservation over peak profitability.

Switch 2 is real for indies — and already performing

Don’t file “Switch 2 support” under vaporware. Oshry confirmed New Blood has Switch 2 dev kits, and said DUSK runs at 120 fps with mouse controls on the hardware — “fantastic,” in his words. He also pointed to plans for PC handheld ports alongside consoles. That matters because developer access and early performance reports are the two indicators that a port is likely, not just PR about “future console support.”

The timing is notable: New Blood put a Dungeons of Dusk demo on Steam for Next Fest (Feb 2026). Coverage from Steam News and Alpha Beta Gamer describes a canonical, turn‑based dungeon‑crawling spin on DUSK with a sprawling skill tree and tactical combat. Reviewers liked the preserved atmosphere; some called parts “by‑the‑numbers,” but everyone agreed it feels like DUSK in a new suit.

The uncomfortable question nobody in the press release asks

Accepting the costs of console releases is noble for community reasons — but it’s not free. Certification, multiple platform QA passes, and hardware optimization are ongoing expenses. The uncomfortable reality: this strategy scales poorly. It works when you have a small stable of cult hits and a publisher willing to bankroll the friction. It’s less viable as a default for every small studio that wants a Switch port.

If New Blood’s model is going to stay sustainable, we need to see specifics: will ports be one‑off investments that rely on a few big sellers? Or is there a roadmap for amortizing certification costs across more titles, cheaper cert pipelines, or revenue‑sharing deals that actually help margins?

What to watch next

• Full release window for Dungeons of Dusk — Oshry said “later this year.” A concrete date or launch quarter will show how close console versions are.
• Official confirmation of Switch 2 and PC handheld release plans and timing. Dev kit access is one thing; a shipping date is another.
• Community reaction to the Steam Next Fest demo (ongoing Feb 2026). Early player feedback will shape post‑launch patches and whether console specs need rework.
• Follow‑up comments from Oshry about port economics — specifically, how certification costs are budgeted and supported across New Blood’s slate.

If I had a single question for PR it would be blunt: what’s your budget for certification and post‑launch support, and how many titles are you willing to subsidize to keep consoles in the lineup?

TL;DR

New Blood is deliberately accepting lower returns and higher certification pain to ship Dungeons of Dusk on consoles — including Switch 2 dev kits that reportedly run DUSK at 120 fps. The Steam Next Fest demo shows the new turn‑based direction, and the studio’s community‑first stance is real. It’s admirable, and a potential model for boutique publishers — but the economics behind sustaining that model are the real story to watch.