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Deep Roots
Games are ruined when they become a money-oriented business, and because of this AAA gaming studios, like the enormous billion-dollar heavyweights Activision, Rockstar Games, and Ubisoft, have overextended themselves, designing enormous, continuously patched, and frustratingly un-fun games.
Independent gaming studios, or “indie studios,” alternatively, make small but mighty games. For example,recently, Worming From Home, an indie game has become a viral sensation in its beta stages. According to the game’s demo, you play as a worm in a lifesized human office setting, trying to complete a day’s work with all of the functionality and clumsy motor skills of a literal worm. It’s utterly ridiculous, pokes fun at the work-from-home finance world, and gamers can’t wait to play it. As stupid and silly as it sounds, this game is actually really fun, making gamers smile and laugh at a game for the first time since the equally pointless and ridiculous game, Goat Simulator, came out in 2014.
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Amped about the silliness, gamers oftentimes start playing these random $15 games with zero expectations, and end up having more fun than they ever have playing an overpriced and overhyped game. Why is it that they have more fun with these ridiculous games than they do with the $80 mainstream games they waited decades for? Indie game developers may have fewer resources to work with but because of this, they are powered by passion, creativity, freedom, innovation, and the pursuit of fun. They don’t have shareholders to please, billionaire CEOs to impress, or an army of underpaid gamers-turned-coders working 14-hour days to meet deadlines.
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From a player’s perspective, there are no championships, no leaderboards, no pressure, and no expectations, just fun, and in some cases, just worms. This simplicity offers gamers a chance to remember why they fell in love with video games in the first place: clever gameplay, puzzle solving, intriguing visuals, and joyful amusement. And let’s be honest, a gamer’s intrinsic motivation has nothing to do with shareholder value or CEO-coded decisionmaking, which is where the gaming industry lost the plot in the first place.
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The Business End
AAA video game studios employ business executives who aren’t even gamers themselves. This is a clear emphasis on the real reason why the industry has strayed so far from its everfaithful, yet everdisappointed customer. They don’t know their audience…
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Without any concept of what their audience wants and obsessing over making their stock value increase, AAA studios have frittered away their gamer’s soul in exchange for several billion dollars. Alas, in the looming shadow of the multibillion dollar gaming world, a small but mighty hero has emerged: Independent studios.
Born from the passion projects of unsatisfied gamers and clever, self-taught coders, small gaming studios emerged from beneath the toe of a Goliath gaming colossus. By creating and distributing small, simple, and widely adored games, indie studios reignited everyone’s fascination with gaming. With nothing to gain but the satisfaction of creating a good gaming experience, indie studios (and the games they create) have become the heavensent buoy that drowning gamers didn’t realize they needed amidst the rising tides, and rising costs, of mainstream video games.
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Passion, late-night coding sessions, and the miniscule funds of hopeful, niche investors have allowed indie gaming studios to recapture the heart and soul of gaming. The passionate few are saving the gaming world as they create playable masterpieces that are innovative, quirky, entertaining, affordable, and most importantly, really fun.
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Through a decadent combination of artistry and a gamer’s innate resourcefulness, indie gaming studios have tapped into what gamers truly love. These weirdly beloved games for a fraction of the cost have cultivated a devoted following of passionate gamers. The fandom is happy to support unique ideas and gaming innovation.
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According to The Supavillain, a video game enthusiast and journalist with RushDownRadio, cashgrabbing ruined the gaming world. He says, “Once the industry realized they could nickel-and-dime us without consequence, things got worse.” Microtransactions replaced skill progression and premium features catapulted characters into the leaderboards without paying their dues. Supavillain also laments over the upfront costs of gaming, saying that the idea of getting a full, complete gaming experience for only $60 became ancient history.
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Although there are a handful of fun games being released from the mega developers and AAA studios, oftentimes they’re ruined by the corporate cashgrab initiatives woven into the script and story of an immersive game. Suddenly, every gamer’s beloved, sought-after games have become playable advertisements for in-game purchases or extension pack sales, leaving behind the intrinsic value of the game itself.
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Luckily for deflated gamers, indie game developers are reminding fans of the magic of gaming. Silly, weird, and unique indie games embody the true soul of gaming, challenging players to do what they meant to do when they turned their gaming console on: Play.
Sometimes the hard-found solution is the simplest answer. Players just want to play again.
Can Indie Video Game Studios Save the Gaming Industry’s Soul?
Video games used to be a fairly simple form of entertainment, but the greed of the corporate-coded gaming industry has muddied the waters with $100 releases, seemingly-required extension packs, and pricey in-game purchases.
Shareholder-centric executives are trying to squeeze the industry dry for every dollar it's worth, unwittingly undermining the quality of their games and cultivating a jaded gamer audience in the process. Because of this, games have become not only expensive, faulty, and frustratingly complicated, but they've also lost the true meaning and goal of video games in the first place: Fun.
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