95% of everything is garbage. I don't think this is any sort of grand revelation. Game dev overall has never been more accessible or saturated, so it's only natural that cheap indie game dev is full of untalented copycats and low effort asset flips.
And yet: most of my favorite games over the last decade have been indie. Most of the copycats are chasing markets that were established by legitimately great breakthrough hits. There are still clever, creative indie games coming out every year, and they definitely outnumber quality AAA releases. I'm not lacking options, and it's only because indie gaming took off.
What does it matter to me if most of it is trash? Curation has always been necessary for enjoyment of media. The existence of a thousand generic deck builders doesn't devalue Slay the Spire. Flavor of the week friendslop doesn't diminish Deep Rock Galactic. Every other new game being a roguelite doesn't erase FTL, Dead Cells, and Darkest Dungeon.
The harshest critics of indie gaming are almost always cut from the same cloth: young console gamers who still give a shit about graphics. These are the people who mock Slay the Spire 2 while playing Marathon.
95% of everything is garbage. I don't think this is any sort of grand revelation. Game dev overall has never been more accessible or saturated, so it's only natural that cheap indie game dev is full of untalented copycats and low effort asset flips.
And yet: most of my favorite games over the last decade have been indie. Most of the copycats are chasing markets that were established by legitimately great breakthrough hits. There are still clever, creative indie games coming out every year, and they definitely outnumber quality AAA releases. I'm not lacking options, and it's only because indie gaming took off.
What does it matter to me if most of it is trash? Curation has always been necessary for enjoyment of media. The existence of a thousand generic deck builders doesn't devalue Slay the Spire. Flavor of the week friendslop doesn't diminish Deep Rock Galactic. Every other new game being a roguelite doesn't erase FTL, Dead Cells, and Darkest Dungeon.
The harshest critics of indie gaming are almost always cut from the same cloth: young console gamers who still give a shit about graphics. These are the people who mock Slay the Spire 2 while playing Marathon.