More Game Developers at Large Companies Going Indie

More now than ever, it’s becoming evident that indie gaming is big business. It’s for good reason, too. One thing I’ve come to realize over the past couple of years is that while $100 million games have their place, they are in no way required to have a lot of fun. There are many, many $20 and under titles that are a total blast to play.

If you pay attention to Steam, then you’ll likely notice that not a week goes by when one or more indie games are released, and often, they receive great reception from the community. It’s not even uncommon to see these indie games receiving higher ratings than commercial titles that cost far, far more to produce. It seems that sometimes, large developers overlook the fact that games don’t have to be seriously complex to be fun.

It’s of no surprise, then, that it’s becoming a common sight to see developers leaving the bigger companies to set out on their own. When you work for a large developer, you’re essentially told what to do, and how to create the game, and sometimes have a lack of input. On your own, you’re in control, and you can create the game that you envision.

And at the end of the day, it seems to work out for the developer, and also the gamer, because we continue to see fantastic independent titles that don’t cost a fortune, but manage to soak up many of our gameplay hours. The reason for this is that the developers are gamers themselves, and not simply a working person putting their time in.

It doesn’t look like indie gaming is going to die off anytime soon, and if anything, it might explode more than it already has.

But that’s not what the new crop of indies are. They’re veterans of the triple-A game biz with decades of experience behind them. They’ve worked for the biggest companies and had a hand in some of the industry’s biggest blockbusters. They could work on anything, but they’ve found creative fulfillment splitting off into a tiny crew and doing their own thing. They’re using everything they’ve learned working on big-budget epics and applying it to small, downloadable games.