Every day we play indie games and we don’t even think about it. These games are gaining popularity every year. Therefore, in this article we will talk about them in more detail and find out what indie games are, how to distinguish them from non-indie games and why they are called that.
What is an indie game?
What are indie games? While this may seem like a silly question, it’s not at all. Many people use the term incorrectly when talking about video games. In fact, it’s not easy to pinpoint which one is an indie game and which one isn’t. Therefore, the term is becoming more and more ambiguous.
It can be said that from the very beginning, by most developers and users, the term “indie” or independent “small” games, programmed, managed and produced by their authors with their own capital or through other means, such as donations from users and help from the development community, was meant by the term. This is one of the widely used definitions for such games.
Thus, an indie game is a game created by a small as well as an independent author or development company that has not received funding or resources from large companies in the sector. Despite the fact that the creators have a small budget to create their product, indie games end up being unique and interesting.
Can a game stop being indie?
The answer, of course, is! In truth, this happens often. There are many companies that start small and limited until one of their games becomes famous. At this moment, the developers receive an offer from a large company that can offer a buyout of the game or special conditions for cooperation. It’s also often the case that your game is so promising that before it’s released, a big company comes along and offers to fund, publish, and distribute it.
Let’s remember such cases as Minecraft or Cuphead, which were finally bought by Microsoft. There are also many cases where games appear to be independent but are not. There are many examples of success, but it’s still not an easy job, and creating a quality game requires not only time, but also a lot of knowledge and skills.
The Importance of Indie Games in the Sector
Indie games are a great opportunity to create your own product when you are on a tight budget. Therefore, indie games are of particular importance in the market. There are several reasons why they are so significant. Let’s look at them in more detail!
- More games on the market. If there were only large companies, which in fact are not so many, then there would be many fewer games. The fact is that such companies release only a few games a year, and in some cases one game every few years. Therefore PCs and consoles would be a small catalog of games compared to what we have now. So instead of 400 games a year, we would only have about 50. Considering that many of them are dedicated to sports, racing or shooting games, there would be little variety.
- Variety and great taste. The independent studios are the ones that will offer you all kinds of games that the imagination allows you to make. While large companies place their bets for security reasons, small ones are guided by their taste, passion and vocation when carrying out a project, which creates such a desire to create their own unique product.
- There are many cases where companies released new games with unusual titles that attracted attention but were not successful, resulting in huge financial losses. However, at present, large companies avoid risk and only produce new parts of already established franchises that already have their own audience. Only small companies and independent developers take risks and offer non-standard ideas.
- Low prices. Not everyone can spend 60 or 70 euros on games and add another 30 euros for a season pass. Indie games can be of various lengths, such as short ones, several months long, or even tens of years. But despite this, the price for them usually does not exceed 20-30 euros.
For these reasons, indie games are so popular. In addition, they perfectly support the market and the balance between large companies and small ones. If it wasn’t for games like this, we wouldn’t have the variety of games we have now.
