Video games have become a big business in mainstream culture within the last couple of decades, with much of the coverage centered on big game announcements and reviews. But the ecosystem of video games has many more opportunities for in-depth, sophisticated reporting for business journalists. In particular, one such niche that often flies under the radar is indie games. So today, let’s talk about the big business of indie gaming and the developers that have leveled up the industry.
What makes a game indie?
While there are plenty of debates about what features qualify or disqualify a game from being considered truly “indie,” the most commonly accepted definition is a game that is created by an individual or a small development team without the support of a large game publisher. This is in contrast to games created by large developers, or Triple-A companies, such as EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Nintendo. These major publishers have large budgets for the development and marketing of a single game and typically have entire teams of programmers for each one. While these companies have produced many of the most popular and well-known games, such as Mario and Grand Theft Auto, they have also been steadily picking up a reputation of stagnation as they are often unwilling to risk resources on new gameplay concepts, instead relying on established storylines and known formulas to ensure success.
Indie games have long been filling this gap in the creative market. Typically, an indie developer will create a portion of their game on their own, as a proof of concept, then pitch it to a publishing company, which then provides the resources to finish and market the game to the public. Some can self-publish their games, and some smaller companies that are either their own publisher, or are backed by a publisher but remain creatively distinct, are also considered indie developers (there is some debate and the rise of a “double-A” category, though this seems, for now, more of a middle ground than a true distinction).
Because indie projects exist outside of the traditional development pipeline, developers are often able to prioritize their own creativity without having to acquiesce to a publisher’s demands in order to sell. While profit is not necessarily the goal for this field, several recent, high-profile successes indicate that the indie game industry is something that deserves to be watched and taken seriously.
Indie games see success
One of the most recent success stories in this field is Team Cherry, a three-person team of developers in Australia. The team funded their game, Hollow Knight, through a Kickstarter campaign and released it to the world in 2017. The game was such a success that it fully funded its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, which developed an immediate cult following after a seven-year production period. Within three days, the game surpassed five million players and three million copies were sold on the popular online platform Steam, generating $50 million in revenue for the independent developers. Just one month later, Silksong had been downloaded across platforms over 6 million times, and in contrast to many triple-A games that have steadily increased their prices to over $70 a game, the most anticipated indie game of last year only cost gamers $20. As one blogger noted, “It’s not every day that gamers will appreciate the price of a large release so deeply that they encourage buying over pirating, but Silksong is the rare exception.”
Though Silksong dominated much of the conversation of indie successes in the last year, it’s not the only indie game seeing success, and a lot of it has to do with the games showcasing the “heart and soul of their creators.” Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, “a passion project of Guillaume Broche, an Ubisoft alumnus who dreamed of making something different and unique after growing bored at his job,” won Game of the Year (GOTY) with a highly original story and setting, incredible graphics, music and artistry. Similarly, Hades II, a sequel produced by Supergiant Games, was also in the running for GOTY, but still won Best Independent Game. Supergiant Games was founded in 2009 by two former EA Los Angeles developers who wanted to “give back to gaming what gaming’s given [them].” Their small team continues to “focus on one new game project at a time.”
