Why There Are No Hit Indie Games

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday May 28, 2006 @08:21AM from the fewer-pac-men-per-capita dept.

Slate is running an article on why indie games are still such small potatoes in today's game industry. From the article: "In today's movie business, it's possible for an indie film like Napoleon Dynamite to become a sensation. Saw, which cost a mere $1.2 million, grossed 100 times that amount. That just doesn't happen in video games. The average PlayStation 2 game costs about $8 million. Studios often need large development teams--usually 40 or more people--to meet their tight deadlines. They spend money to license everything from comic book heroes to graphics engines. They record A-list actors. And if they burn their own CDs or do their own marketing, costs can really soar."

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It's sad really by Daimando · 2006-05-28 08:45 · Score: 0, Redundant

We're living in a country where the mighty dollar dominates over true talent. What was once a community where small developers can design their own games with no problem has turned into big business where pleasing the average consumer is the ideal goal. Hopefully, Nintendo lets Indie developers take off with the Virtual Console.
GarageGames? by localman · 2006-05-28 10:34 · Score: 1, Redundant

Games are a relatively new medium and so things will take some time to settle. Who knows how it'll all pan out? But there is GarageGames, an early entry in expanding the indie gaming market. They're still relatively small, but MarbleBlast just got ported to the xbox 360.

Cheers.