Why There Are No Indie Games

By: Derek Yu

On: May 30th, 2006

Slate.com has up one of “those” articles about how mainstream games are contrived and how no one gives indie games the love they deserve. I think that’s kind of been the case, but will that continue to be true?

And maybe more importantly, do indie games (and I’m talking about the ones being sold) deserve more love? Maybe this sounds strange from a site about indie games. I’m just saying that only a few interesting indie games get released each year that aren’t freeware. And maybe the reason is because, like any industry, there are only so many people willing to risk MONEY on a new idea.

I’m certain that any high-quality, deserving indie game can make money. We can’t expect people to just give out their love for nothing, can we?

(Source: Joystiq)

Posted in Community

Sergio

People make interesting games for free. The idea behind indy games is they shouldn’t be clones, but sadly the majority are. If people are willing to get no money at all for their unique work, why not risk getting no money for a unique game you buy? They obviously get support from sites like this one spreading the word.
Splinter of Chaos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7sNJhX0x7yI&search=python%20money%20song

If only there was enough to share, then eperimental games could reach the stores and people could bu GOOD games and EA would suffer and die.
Sergio

Well, I hear Kyle Gabler and Shalin Shodhan from the EGP are working for Maxis now… hope that works out well.
Moschops

I really couldn’t be bothered to read the entire article. The numbers he’s using at the start are way off the mark. PS2 games do not (all) cost $8million to create and can be made with less than 40 people.
The scares of next gen doubling cost is tosh, it wouldn’t be viable. Developers and publishers will become more efficient in their use of assets to keep costs down.
Advenith

Fortunately, indie games are beginning to get more of a foothold in the industry. I didn’t really realize how well they were doing until I saw Darwinia being sold through Steam, though.
http://www.garbageingamesout.com/ Brien

So Joe Lieberman wrote the author of this article an email pointing out how out of touch with reality it is. According to his response, the editors of Slate are to blame: indie gamer forum post. I dont know if that’ll work.