What Makes Indie Games so Popular (Minecraft, Gone Home)

Indie games have always been around in one way or another, but the winds of the video game world have been changing recently and a lot of these indie games without the Hollywood budget are hitting the big time. And no it's not Link and the Wind Waker manipulating it.

So what is it that is making indie games so popular? Let's break it down.

An “Indie” game, in its simplest form is created by a studio without the support of a major publisher, thus making it independent. So what's the resounding difference between games such as Minecraft and Papers, Please to the big dogs out there, the triple A developed games? Well it's the budget for one and the difference in creative freedom. That's not to say the triple-A developers don't get creative, but the publishers get cold feet on taking a risk with their money which leads to a certain wave of similarities running throughout the triple-A gaming industry. Appealing to the masses is a strongly supported way of not taking a risk.

But Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda previously noted that the success of Bravely Default has led them to rethink the way they make games altogether. He stated, "If you focus too much on the global aspect, you might lose sight of who you're actually making the game for." With the rise of Kickstarter the campaign website for projects who seek precious funding and find it in friendly backers who support their cause, a lot more of these Indie games are getting the chance to shine. Cast your mind to success stories like Kingdom Come: Deliverence from indie Czech studio Warhorse which got over 1 million dollars after asking for just 300,000 or Mercenary Kings from Tribute Games. Indie developers have the freedom to do as they wish and before the lack of budget held them back. This isn't to say everyone gets funding, the public needs to want your game, which ultimately leads to the public buying it too. Take the success of Gone Home, which received great reviews following its launch and was, well different. But it's not all about the money and freedom. The Internet plays a major role.

Developers can self-publish, seek funding like I mentioned with kickstarter, reach out for support and publish games online. The biggest factors in this are Steam, the platform that puts games up on the digital market creating a whole new level of purchase and the tweeting, liking, upvoting world of social media. The public is their backers and the social media is their marketing strategy. And because of this, the backers have a special connection to the game that they've pretty much made happen, or at least helped. But it's not all sunshine and butterflies in indie development, Fable and Godus creator Peter Molyneux founded indie studio 22Cans but he has publicly stated that the indie 'golden age' won't last. Speaking at the Games Developer Conference Molyneux said, “Don't think we're going to be all indies for the next five years, these things go in cycles" He also went on to discuss venture capital firms seeking to invest in indie game studios and that by accepting funding from these places could lead to hampered creativity.

With big sellers like The Stanley Parable and Don't Starve, the mainstream is taking notice. There are many reasons why indie games are striving; from the ability to be creatively free, independent from the restraints of a higher power, with the public on their side, and they're cheaper so they've got that going for them, which is nice. I guess only time will tell how strong their hold is.

Let me know your thoughts. Do you seek out lesser known indie games, or do you generally stick to the major triple-A games? Personally I try to play both. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!