In recent years there has been heated discussion over the state of AAA games and the rise of modern Indie Games. Many say that the big gaming companies have become too greedy and constantly churning out one bad game after another. Is this true? Or are video games just a fad? Let’s find out.

First, let’s define the games we will be talking about. Indie Games are games made by a small independent team of people who usually get their funding through sites like Kickstarter. They offer unique and interesting games with different art styles, gameplay, and story, and are often more passionate about their games than most AAA studios. AAA games are made by large companies such as Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and so on. These games can have thousands of people working on them with possibly millions being poured into its production. AAA games usually use a realistic art style and are larger in scale. more recently AAA companies have been using live service models to keep their games relevant and make more money by micro transactions.

Now that we know what these types of games are, the question remains: why are Indie Games dominating the market? Well, it comes down to 3 factors: price, polish, and what niches they fill.

Indie Games are far cheaper than AAA games. Usually being around 20-30 dollars while AAA games are 50-80 dollars a game. There is also the issue of microtransactions. AAA games usually stuff themselves with a premium currency or cosmetic that can cost around 20 dollars to buy! While there are of course exceptions with AA games (games that are in the middle of the spectrum) such as the widely popular and acclaimed Helldivers 2 which has a premium currency that is obtainable ingame – most AAA games with a multiplayer aspect will use overpriced microtransactions, think COD and Fortnite.

Then there’s polish, how a game feels during and after launch day. AAA games usually have more bugs on launch day than Indie Games because the games are usually on tight deadlines and must release unfinished due to this. Some infamous launch days for AAA games were terrible like: Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 2042, Redfall, Minds Eye, and Star wars: Jedi: Survivors. While most of these games have been patched since their initial release, the simple fact is that the companies allowed them to be released in that state at all. We also need to acknowledge that all games will have bugs. Some games will forever be buggy, but they are still loved like Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas. The difference being that you can tell that these games were made with passion and the bugs are secondary to the fun gameplay and systems.

Indie Games usually fill more unique niches or ideas. Want to fly around a diverse solar system trying to learn the history of an alien race to get out of a time loop? Play Outer Wilds. Want to explore a world where Taoist imagery and philosophy blend with futuristic technology and attempt to reconcile with your part in a terrible disaster? Play Nine Sols. Want to build a factory the size of a planet with complicated systems and trains while defending it from the native bugs? Play Factorio. I could go on and on about the various worlds and systems of many indie games. Yet most AAA games boil down to guy with a gun or guy with a sword, saving the world or something along those lines, which can get boring after a while.

All this goes to show is while AAA games drown in corporate greed and poor coding, Indie Games are evolving and becoming what the industry needs to survive: lively worlds, good gameplay and incredible stories.

Of course there are exceptions, there are many AAA games that are incredibly fun and enjoyable such as Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 (Personal Favorite-Editor), Skyrim, Doom, and many others.