The recent years in the gaming industry has seen a massive boom in the number of independent studios developing games due to the ease of publishing. Many of them are trying new and innovative ideas that many AAA developers are either scared to try to simply wont do due to their distributor pulling the plug on new ideas. What I mean by this is that in a way, the ecosystem that is the gaming industry needs to rely on these indie developers and their games to come up with more innovative mechanics in gaming. The indie developers have the opportunity to take major risks in their games that will yield a big reward if it works or a minor hit to them if it fails. AAA developers with huge budgets simply do not have this luxury. Take for example and indie development studio of say around 5-10 employees, all who have an investment in the company, create a new game that involves a never before of fairly obscure and non-polished mechanic. The game itself is not of the highest graphical fidelity and they don't have a budget for decent voice acting or soundtracks, but they end up creating a short story (around a 4 hour game) that gameplay wise depends heavily on their new idea. With all the resources out there these days (kickstarter, indiegogo, steam greenlight) they have scrape up enough money between themselves and the interest of others in the community to finish the game. The game becomes available for people to download for a small fee (Lets say $5) and that's the end. The team continues to improve the game (patches, bug fixes, etc.) and life goes on for the developers. Now the community reaction to the game is mixed. Some people like the new play-style featured, some do not. In the end the developers make their money back and move on to the next project.
Now lets take that same scenario and see how it works within a AAA developer. Lets set this up as a AAA studio that in recent years has started to fail to meet their financial goals and now is forced into developing a game that is do or die for the company. The development and product team is well over 100 employees with many branches (you need code developers, QA team, design team, animation team, voice acting, writing, etc. you get the point, LOTS OF PEOPLE INVOLVED). During the design and brainstorming phase of what kind of game they want to make, a decision is made to explore the use of a totally new mechanic that someone comes up with. Months and months pass for development and testing and eventually the game is released to the public after tons of money is spent by the company for development, marketing, and distribution. The game gets mixed reviews and eventually fails to meet financial projections needed to keep the studio afloat. Reviews of the game say the new mechanic introduced is what ultimately harmed the game. Had the studio created another game in the same vein of other games they have created in the past, they might have had a better chance to break even or even surpass what was needed to stay afloat.
The scenarios I just described may not happen exactly like that but I wanted to make the point that indie studios, while not creating the absolute best or most graphically intensive games are needed in the industry to keep pushing innovation. AAA developers can not take as big of a risk as an indie developer can because of the money and manpower that is needed for each type of game. As a real world example I like to look at the indie game Thomas Was Alone, developed by one man over the course of a few months in his spare time. Mike Bithell created the whole game on his own and hired Dave Houdsen to create the soundtrack and Danny Wallace to voice the narration. The game is a puzzle-platformer about colored blocks who each have their own unique ability that will help you solve each level. Small, short, side-scroller, not much else to it except the narration and sound. The way this indie game really uses narration and sound to immerse the player in the environment is incredible and, as I have stated in my own review of the game, really makes this game amazing. Now for Mike Bithell, as stated, this was a game made in his free time, he had no one to answer to, no one to tell him these ideas would not work and no one invested in him that he needed to please in order to release the game. He took a risk and it worked out for him, if it failed, I'm sure it would just be another life experience for him to put under his belt and he would move on. AAA studios CAN NOT DO THIS! They cannot just put out a game and hope it does well, it HAS to do well in order for everyone involved to continue to make a living. The people working on the Call of Duty games cannot just go "hey, you know what we should do in the next installment? Lets add (a mechanic that totally changes the experience) and push it out and hope it sells!" They would be absolutely insane to even think that could be a good idea. If Mike Bithell goes, "Hey, I want to add (a mechanic that totally changes the experience)" to Thomas Was Alone, he can do that because there is a smaller risk to him that he can walk away from if it fails and just move on to the next.
The main idea I want to get across is that indie studios are needed to push gaming to the next level. The innovation that indie studios can generate is what makes them so great and so essential to the industry. AAA studios will always pump out multimillion dollar games that will sell an incredible amount but for refreshing and obscure experiences, the indie studios will thrive in the vast and ever growing community and deliver a consistent amount of content and innovation. This is not about AAA vs Indie, this is about the future and the landscape of the industry and how new mechanics will forever be tested and how they will be received. Sure some will fail but the ideas brought fourth are priceless to the industry. So support the indie developers so that they may continue to evolve gaming to the next level and keep pushing boundaries that will eventually make their way (if they are good enough) to the AAA titles we all love.
Until next time
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