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[IbizaPocholo]

John Romero says indies are the future of game development: 'These people are the ones that make triple-A studios go, 'Wait a minute, we need to start doing this''

Finding funding for those indies is another matter.

www.pcgamer.com

Romero said that, more than anything, game development as an industry is "so much bigger than it used to be," particularly in indie development.

"Just go to Itch.io if you want to see how many indies there are out there," Romero said. "How many games are released on Steam every month? Most of them are indie games. iOS, Android—indie, indie, indie."

And, Romero noted, it's not just the volume of indie games. It's the impact that they're having, because "when we look at the Game of the Year awards, half the time it's indies." He then ran down a string of recent hits developed by independent devs and studios: Balatro, Baldur's Gate 3, Helldivers 2, Clair Obscur—even the venerable Minecraft, an archetypal indie superhit before Mojang was sold into the Microsoft stable.

"These are all indies," Romero said. "These people are the ones that make the triple-A companies go, 'Wait a minute. We need to start doing this.'"

As for what that means for the industry's future, Romero was optimistic. "The industry has mostly always gone up," Romero said. "The amount of people playing games is massive."

According to Romero, it's easier than ever to put games in front of those players.

"You can make a game now and put it out there for people to get. Distribution is nothing now," Romero said. "Like back in the day, no way. Getting on a disc? That was expensive. To get in a store? Forget it. You're never going to do that as an indie."

Thanks to low barrier-to-entry development software like Godot and Unreal Engine and distribution platforms like Steam and Itch.io, Romero said "technology is solved." Instead, the main problem that developers face is discoverability.

"How is somebody going to see your stuff?" Romero said. "That really is down to [having] a great game design, because we do not have a technology problem anymore."

 

[TommyCronin6969]

He should try it himself sometime.

 

[RCX]

He's technically correct, but there needs to be far greater curation on the major storefronts.

Itch.io can be as open as it wants but I wish Steam/PSN/Nintendo would be more discerning with what they allow and also give us way more granular ways to filter out AI slop, asset flips and general crap

We don't need more games. We need more good games.

 

[IAmRei]

He's technically correct, but there needs to be far greater curation on the major storefronts.

Itch.io can be as open as it wants but I wish Steam/PSN/Nintendo would be more discerning with what they allow and also give us way more granular ways to filter out AI slop, asset flips and general crap

We don't need more games. We need more good games.

Totally correct, we need more good games, not saturated market with crappy games

 

[SJRB]

Breaking news: local man makes the most obvious statement imaginable

 

[Little Mac]

 

[darrylgorn]

Schedule 1 is a prime example.

 

[Hashassin]

 

[deriks]

Hellblade and Clair Obscur are for sure great examples, but it's a damn hard work and not everyone have the guts to hold

But for sure it's better having like 10 indie or AA great games a year than ten AAA lazy games a year

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Dude that didnt do shit since Quake 1 worthwile mentioning. Now he is an indie that can onl make doom 1993 levels.

 

[Hypereides]

I agree with his sentiment. Its the smaller studios who manage to come up with actual nifty ideas these days. Big industry "professionals" have gotten creatively bankrupt and snatch those ideas up and reiterate them whenever they catch on, instead of brainstorming something to call their own.

Creative innovation and originality has pivoted to the "small guys" who dare to dream and the big leagues have dropped the ball in that regard nowadays.

 

[Edder1]

This guy hasn't made a game of note for 30 years and yet somehow managed to remain relevant to this day.

 

[Ar¢tos]

He's right, just look at Sony. AAA gaming is so pricey now that all they do is extremely safe sequels.
They even changed the MC in Ghost sequel to a woman so players would be sure they weren't playing Tsushima by accident, since it's basically made of reused assets and animations.

 

[Kacho]

It's crazy how I get more for less money with indies these days.

Drop $70 on a AAAA game, play it for 10-20 hours.

vs

Drop $15 on an indie, play it for 70-150 hours.

 

[MagusMajul]

so why did all his broke ass studios get shut down?

 

[ReBurn]

These days I find myself bored with most AAA experiences, to the point where I rarely buy them on day 1 anymore. Especially the games that focus more on telling a story. I just don't have the time to commit to them and I often find myself having to start over to refresh myself with what's going on and how to play. I'm not saying that they are bad by any stretch. I just prefer more of a pick up and play experience right now and indies are what provide that for me.

 

[Kacho]

so why did all his broke ass studios get shut down?

Romero Games is still alive for now. They're talking with several publishers interested in getting their AAA FPS to market. Fingers crossed.

 

[blastprocessor]

Not really into indie games (rare but l do try some) maybe i'm a snob but pretty much only play AAA.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

The indie scene is thriving and I mainly play indie titles myself, but I don't see a strong relation with 'making triple A studios go'. Succesful indie games attract a dedicated and niche crowd. It's very rare for an indie game to blow up to become mainstream hit. Plus I don't see the market for mainstream blockbusters with AAA+ budgets (GTA VI) diminish even with inflation going on.
Also, another thing to consider is that industry giants can copy concepts of succesful indie titles to try to turn it into a mainstream hit.

 

[freemandos]

He should try it himself sometime.

That's what I'm thinking.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

"...make triple A studios go..." what?

It's like that quote in the title is not finished.

Are they making them go, "wow!" Or "ahh sheeeeeeet!" or "Got dammit!!!"?

Or are they making them "go sit down and think about their future?" Won't somebody please elucidate....?

 

[Hypereides]

"...make triple A studios go..." what?

It's like that quote in the title is not finished.

Are they making them go, "wow!" Or "ahh sheeeeeeet!" or "Got dammit!!!"?

Or are they making them "go sit down and think about their future?" Won't somebody please elucidate....?

Full quote and archived link:

John Romero says indies are the future of game development: 'These people are the ones that make triple-A studios go, 'Wait a minute, we need to start doing this''

https://archive.md/yfWAo

 

[drganon]

I'll have to disagree with Romero. Most indie games are garbage.

 

[Shubh_C63]

He's technically correct, but there needs to be far greater curation on the major storefronts.

Itch.io can be as open as it wants but I wish Steam/PSN/Nintendo would be more discerning with what they allow and also give us way more granular ways to filter out AI slop, asset flips and general crap

We don't need more games. We need more good games.

I guess I don't game that much to come around AI Slops.
Steam suggested games usually are pretty good. Its a loooong ass line before we get to trashy game recommendations.

 

[TintoConCasera]

It's crazy how I get more for less money with indies these days.

Drop $70 on a AAAA game, play it for 10-20 hours.

vs

Drop $15 on an indie, play it for 70-150 hours.

Yeah agree. In some cases indie games can offer more than a few hundreds of hours of playtime which is something AAA games don't do unless it's some live-service crap designed to take your money.

Stuff like Rimworld or Factorio, I could see myself playing those games forever. You just don't see that kind of game design in AAA.

 

[RCX]

I guess I don't game that much to come around AI Slops.
Steam suggested games usually are pretty good. Its a loooong ass line before we get to trashy game recommendations.

I often find the opposite. Steam recommendations never really hit the mark for me. The filtering system is decent but I'm certain over the next year or two they're going to have more and more problems with the sheer number of games they allow to be published on their platform. AI is going to make it easier for good and bad devs to get their games out the door. The end result is going to be a tidal wave that will make it very difficult to figure out what is worth the time.

I guess I'll just keep doing as I have been: rely on a few podcasts and youtubers whose opinions I can trust and come to GAF.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

You can say what you want, I love the old guard of game development. Purple haired landwhales and suites turned this whole industry to shit.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Triple A games can lower their budgets to suit their own personal financial needs while still being very successful. It's always been exhaustingly boring pitting them, AA, and indies against each other when all can happily coexist. The biggest problem is just too many games out now. That's why IMO that the narrative of games taking longer isn't a negative unless your gaming tastes are so narrow you only like a small handful of titles.

 

[__SteakDeck__]

He's right, just look at Sony. AAA gaming is so pricey now that all they do is extremely safe sequels.
They even changed the MC in Ghost sequel to a woman so players would be sure they weren't playing Tsushima by accident, since it's basically made of reused assets and animations.

I don't think replacing the main character of the previous game that was a man, to now making the main character a woman in the sequel is "safe". lol

 

[Shadowstar39]

Good luck getting this place to praise indies, people here are graphics whores who all seem to pay $2000 for a fing gpu.

Indie games are great!!! My most played games are indies.

Songs of Syx, Manor lords, RimWorld, Factorio, Avernum 1-6, Gnomes, Noita, Gun Locked, Star Com Unknown space, Star Valor, Metal Hellsinger, Tiny Rogues, Guns of Fury, Blood West, Against the storm, KeeperRl, Dwarf Fortress, Foundation, Farthest frontier, Shapez2, Everspace, Oxygen not included, banished, Warband, Microtopia, Satisfactory, Halls of torment, ADom , Tales of maj'eyal, The pitt, Wizordum, ClanFolk, Skald against the black priory, Dorf romantik, doors of tithius, colony ship, Vampire survivors, Slay the spire, rogue legacy , Peglin, Heroes Hour, Song of conquest, Brotato, Prodeus, Ion Fury, House flipper, farming simulator, Schedule 1, Kingdoms and Castles, kingdoms reborn, two crowns, last epoch, Kenshi, bloodstained, etc....

So when people here bitch about "no new games until something something in October" I am like wtf.... There is a slew of great indies people probably never played because "need to have 4k textures and 1000 million team with nikki manage micro transaction skins".

I buy AAA, but good single player AAA is few and far between AA and indies take off and can give awesome ideas.

Now if only more Japanese devs would embrace making their franchises with indie or AA budgets... maybe we could have original ideas again (tokyo jungle, or games like vagrant story and megaman legends).