Verno wrote on Apr 9, 2012, 09:51:
Xombie wrote on Apr 9, 2012, 09:39:
Indie games, kickstarter, etc
None of these indie games have large budgets. They have simple graphics and concepts that can be done by a few people, there aren't any Half Life 2's or BF2's among them, which need large teams. Even Double Fine's adventure game has a fraction of the budget that was needed to make Brutal Legend. Indie games are good but it is naive to think they're the magic bullet to big-budget games.
It's likewise naive to think that big budget games can continue with the same revenue model. Indie games can be as engrossing with 1/10th the production values and reach a large audience with practically no marketing budget. The industry would be foolhardy to ignore that growing trend. Most DLC doesn't go anywhere near far enough creating a meaningful experience for the cost, especially when compared to indie games that are at a similar price level.
Verno puts it down nicely. The growing exponential costs of developing a game is ensuring that publishers rarely see any profit from their AAA release due to the insane costs of making a AAA game today. As Verno says well you don't need a big budget to make a big, great game. Amnesia, Terraria, Minecraft, Frozen Synapse amongst others are perfect examples of that.
Also, the fact that many big name devs are going indie also shows the trend that devs are starting to think that working independently is far better than having a middle-man interfering in their development.