The Only Way To End The Indie Game Debate Is To Demystify Budgets

If we want the indie category to mean something, we need to nail down what an indie is.

[thorstein]

"The solution might be to look towards the film industry in this case...a budget restriction...The Independent Spirit Awards the budget can't exceed $22.5 million."

Um, no. Hollywood Accounting is real. It has hit the games industry. I recently read that GTA VI has a supposed budget of 1-2 billion. That's a complete fabrication and laughable. Horizon FW budget was leaked at 220 million.

And just like the film industry we are seeing articles with made up budgets attached to games. No one knows the budget of a game. They can use the budgets to bludgeon their "in the chair" developers to take less money in compensation, to not unionize, to make this industry exist on "gig work," to pay less in taxes.

I like the idea, but unless there are reciepts, no one will ever know the budget of a game.

[Petebloodyonion]

How about a game made by independent studios or developers and not owned or financed by a major publisher or company?

[Ataraxias]

But then you still end up with ludicrous examples like Star Citizen.

[notachance]

that makes Baldur's Gate 3 an indie game though

[Petebloodyonion]

and why can it be?
The game has been in early access on Steam since October 2020 and we got the complete version in 2023
That's basically how small studios operate to make a bigger-scope game.
I could give also Behaviour with DBD which is now a massive behemoth but started as a small project.

[--Onilink--]

Also, there are decidedly indie games that choose to work with “indie publishers” like Team17.
The game is still made on a really small budget, by a very small team, but still have the backing of what is arguably a big publisher (or at least decently sized).

The real answer is.. there really isnt a way to clarify it that will work for every scenario and there really isnt anything wrong with that anyway

[Yi-Long]

Here’s thing; I don’t care.

“Oooh, actually it isn’t a indie”
“Oooh, this looks, feels and plays like a AAA by a major company, but … “

Okay, cool, debate all you want among yourselves. It’s not really a debate I’m personally invested in.

I’m a simple man. You make a nice game, and price it fairly, I’ll probably support and enjoy it. That’s it. It doesn’t matter to me much in which category a game-dev happens to fall. I’m just looking at a few things: Does this look like something I’ll enjoy? Are the devs trying to nickel & dime me? Is it worth my time and money?

A lot of my favorite games have been ‘indies’. Lately, it seems that’s where the works of passion, creative risks, the pure love of/for gaming, etc, are found.

While the big companies (EA, Sony, Activision, Microsoft, etc) are mostly just looking to go with safe bets and monetizing these ‘experiences’ past the initial selling price through the industry buzz-words like GaaS, micro-transactions, etc, it’s in the indie-department where we often still find complete gaming experiences being offered in genres long abandoned by the big fishes because they felt there wouldn’t be any/enough money in it for them.

But this ‘discussion’ about Dave the Diver technically not being an ‘indie’, I don’t really care. Because it’s a game which does what I love about indies, which is taking some creative risks, offering something original & fun, and offering it at a fair price.

All the talk about CEOs, budgets, monetization, corporations, etc, I’ve never been interested in any of that. That’s not where the creative vision is. It SHOULD be, but sadly, they’re completely different worlds. And sadly, in today’s industry, those who have all the creative potential and talent to give us pure creative magic, are far too often held back by those money-men in suits lacking any creativity.

[CrimsonWing69]

Indie games are like straight to DVD or Scyfy Channel level movies.

Sometimes you find something great, but most of them feel like student made final projects for Full Sail's game design program.

I will always prefer AA or AAA games and yea, I know that's due to the budget for dev cost, but it also comes down to talent. I played games like Remothered and Tormented Souls and I will always pick Resident Evil over those.