It's a misconception about indie, in indie game development there are literally 99 games that flop and die for 1 that succeeds, and you don't even hear about those that died having 100 players peak on release day.
And all 100 of those games cost less to produce than a single AAA title, were made by fewer total people, and probably involved significantly fewer rounds of layoffs after months of crunch. Indie games get churned out because people can make them in their downtime, not because they're inherently higher risk.
A ton of them are made by adults basically living in their parents basement and eating nothing but ramen for years. If they were paid an actual income like more established studios then those indie games actually have a way higher cost than people think. The cost to develop doesnt show dollars lost during those years from them living without an income.
And plenty of them are adults with jobs, and they make games as a hobby. Some of them are small teams taking a risk, it's all over. Point still is that anyone can do them for any budget, and with digital distribution being so accessible there's not really anything to crash in the indie space. It's the same people taking the same risk either way. Giant AAA publishers can't really say that.
2.5k
u/serpentear 15h ago
It’s the AAA gaming industry, save for a few studios.
Indie and independent games are getting better and better.