Moving from the sixth-generation of consoles (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube) to the 7th brought about massive, unexpected changes in the world of gaming. Previously, all that was expected from a good game was a fun single-player and possibly a great split-screen mode to complement the single-player. Of course there are exceptions to this, but it’s fair to say this was the norm. But with the advent of the seventh-gen, expectations rose. Online capabilities, achievements, HD graphics. Higher quality content was expected in larger quantities. Needless to say, production values rose.
There's a lot of good independent games (Castle Crashers is probably my favorite) but there's WAY more bad independent games trying to copy other formulas. We see a few works of passion, and way to many clones from lazy attitudes.