Why there aren’t that many Indie Games
The astonishing number of independent games offered on Steam has come up in discussions once more. There are numerous low-quality filler games that only a very, very tiny number of people will play amid the enormous quantity of independent games being developed on the market, which is specifically about. Some individuals, including Jeff Vogel, the founder of the video game development studio Spiderweb Software, have even said that “any system can only tolerate so much waste,” implying that a platform overrun with low-quality cash grabs is particularly concerning for the storefront — possibly even the industry at large.
It’s a strange claim with no precedent, at least not in the gaming business. Digital marketplaces like itch.io, which has a considerably more lenient stance on game publication than Steam, haven’t yet had an internal collapse due to hosting too many games. However, even if it isn’t a novel idea, the idea that the market’s ongoing overabundance of independent games may signal a catastrophe is alarming. Liz Ryerson, a musician, author, and game designer, has already written about this “indiepocalypse worry” in 2018, yet the idea that the sector is overrun by imitations has continued. The problem, though, isn’t that there are too many games; rather, discoverability and curation issues are what independent creators struggle with. According to Vogel in his essay, Steam launched 11,773 titles in 2021, which equates to an average of 30 games being released per day. And that’s just one platform that, in terms of managing the glut of games that are made available on its store, has essentially accepted little curation.
Chiara Woolford, head of client marketing at Game If You Are, an agency that specialises in indie games marketing, asserts that “The indie games scene is, without a doubt, an extremely competitive landscape — and cutting through the noise and getting noticed can be daunting, especially for indie developers with limited experience and bandwidth to take their game to market.” Indie game enthusiasts are living in an exciting moment, since there is a huge variety and the quality is rising. But this makes it a very competitive moment for independent publishers. The difficulty is in developing a successful plan to attract and reach the correct audience.
The geyser of creativity among independent developers is followed by what appears to be an excessive number of gaming options for players. Gwen Guo, co-founder of the sound design studio Imba Interactive and chairperson of the Singapore Games Association (SGGA), suggests this as the cause of the perception that there are too many independent games. Other common explanations for why individuals believe there are “too many independent games” include decision paralysis and the overwhelming number of games they must go through before discovering one they eventually love or can relate to. “I can see a frustrated gamer saying that,” she said.
This increase of independent games can be ascribed to how easy it is to create games now, even for programmers with no coding experience. Even while creating video games on a full-time basis is still a challenging and expensive endeavour, game engines like Twine, Bitsy, Godot, and Gamemaker Studio are some of the more well-liked choices among aspiring and seasoned creators. But this accessibility isn’t the root of the ecosystem’s issues; more games aren’t necessarily bad for the industry, and games that aren’t played by more than five people aren’t any less deserving of being made. Nikhil Murthy, an independent game creator, believes that more independent games should be made.
“A world with more game developers is a better world overall. Everyone ought to be able to produce as much art as they desire, in my opinion” says Murthy. Although he contends that there should be a greater emphasis on meaningful indies and that independent game developers should strive to produce titles that stand out enough to compete with triple-A games’ frequently rigid formulas, this strategy calls for more indie games to be produced rather than fewer. It will be required to experiment and engage in a fair amount of trial and error. “This takes many people working together to create something meaningful, and for it to become a reality, meaningfulness cannot be a requirement”.
The claim that there are too many independent games is also supported by the way in which they are linked to a particular, albeit illusive, definition of value: that a game that is not played frequently or does not generate a profit for the creator is, in some way, of much lower value than games that do. Instead of viewing the media as a means of expression and creativity, this viewpoint is dictated by the whims of the market. Indie games are reduced to a mere good in this equation, created to meet certain market demands, by perceiving them as a variable that needs to fit neatly into the economic rule of demand and supply.It almost seems as though games must be able to make money in order to be accepted and recognised. The fact that games have historically been promoted and sold to a very narrow demographic of core players — majoritatively male, white men who like action-oriented games and favour complicated mechanics and gameplay — raises concerns about this.
According to Murthy, our first folly was caused by our obsession with defending the worth of games. “We won’t create a new planet using the same methods that created the last one. Take pride in your creations! Fun with it, please! If significance emerges, great; if not, that is also OK. Be happy with the work you do! Simply create games.
To be sure that studios can support themselves, however, is still a reality for many independent developers. Even without the exorbitant expense of game production, there are a plethora of challenges facing indie game developers, and companies must still make sure that their products are successful in order to continue generating games. “Many developers face issues that go beyond discoverability. For a successful game launch, engagement and retention are intricate and underappreciated variables that demand careful preparation and study. We’ve seen it so many times: a good game doesn’t always result in sales or favourable publicity or community support,” Woolford tells me.
From a more practical standpoint, it could be vital to continue to view games as a product that needs to be sold. However, according to Guo, acknowledging that there is room for a variety of games made for various reasons is also necessary. Nothing is wrong with seeing video games as a product. Thinking of everything as a zero sum game is the problem, Guo continues. “Yes, the economic growth, talent support, and studio longevity are all aided by the profitability of games as a product. However, the smaller games are the ones that surprise gamers with genuine experiences, gameplay, and narrative. Since authenticity is a means of self-discovery, it cannot be communicated with the hopes of satisfying a large audience”.
The video game industry could use a change of perspective, and we should consider indie games as the complete opposite of triple-A games rather than just the circumstances in which they are produced: games that defy expectations, games that are deeply experimental and weird, games that appear to have been created in a week rather than years, and games that don’t strictly fit the definition of what is a video game. In that way, it’s simpler to understand that there are still not enough independent video games since there are so many more ideas out there waiting to be realised.
Guo asserts that if you are a hobbyist developing your ideal game while working a full-time job unrelated to it, you are a qualified developer. If creating commercially successful games is how you support your company and develop talent for the industry, you are a respectable developer. Instead of criticising or comparing yourself to other devs who are approaching things differently from you, make peace with who you are and recognise your strengths, shortcomings, and circumstances very honestly.