Indie vs AAA games

I remember growing up playing Nintendo games up and other AAA games until I started watching YT. Particular TB and adjacent YouTubers.

Now-a-days, especially watching most of Summer Games Fest, I feel like I really am not excited about AAA games as I used to be and generally prefer indie games

Think it's a combination of time, DLC, gamba bs, same game released 7 thousand times and broken games at launch that have mostly turned me away from AAA games. Nintendo, Ubisoft, Blizzard, SquareEnix and others, have further tainted the appreciation I once had for these companies with the level of abuse to their fanbases and even their own employees.

How you all feel about AAA vs Indie games? Which do you prefer, and has this changed for you over time?

OmegaMouse,
@OmegaMouse@feddit.uk avatar

Definitely a bit of both! If there's a AAA I know will be good (like TOTK) I'll get that near launch, but 90% of AAAs I'll wait to hear what others think first. I guess I've got a lot less faith in big developers now than I used to. For this reason I've got a backlog of older AAAs that I've been meaning to play - but it's guaranteed me near constant great content. A lot of the indie games I play tend to be those with infinite content (roguelikes and sandbox) so I find myself playing those in small bursts over a long time. Occasionally a game like Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight or Celeste will come out and knock it out of the park. I feel like it's becoming more common for indie devs (rather than AAAs) to create those 'home run' games nowadays, but maybe that's because there are so many more indie devs around, which is great. I'm just glad there are so many amazing games to choose from!

tal,
tal avatar

There are genres that each do well in.

For example, some of my most-loved games are roguelikes. In that particular area, I can't think of anything even approaching an AAA release.

But on the other hand, I also enjoy open-world first-person games like Fallout: New Vegas, and there isn't much by way of indie titles there. Big asset creation costs that aren't really practical for small-budget games.

WesThisUp,

For me it’s more about a couple of things.

  1. Is it a pay to win? Buying skins are fine. Guilty Gear is a good example. You get a full game and if you want to support the devs buy some skins. Effect looks not gameplay.

  2. Is it shovelware? Lots of indie and AAA games are copies or cash grabs. Steam’s early access is terrible and the store is full shovelware. The console stores have no quality control and put up anything.

  3. Does it work as expected or is it playable? I know this more AAA because this year has been hard on them.

I think it’s weird to only look at AAA or indie.

Goronmon,

I don't really care whether a game is indie or AAA. I just see a game that I want to play and looks interesting, and then I'll play it.

But I will say, that once I had kids and began having limited time to play (or at least limited time to focus on games for more than small chunks of time), I've tended to favor AAA games over indie games. Mainly because there are plenty of games out there in the AAA space if you have varied insterest in genres.

In the last six-ish months I've played Destiny 2, Diablo IV, LotRO, Elden Ring, Code Vein, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, emulated FFII (still AAA), Lost Odyssey, Diablo 2 Resurrected, Disgaea 5 Complete, Atelier Ryza 2, Pokemon Violet, Skyrim and Vagrant Story. The games that might be considered indie that I've spent time on is Hades and SOMA.

There just isn't a lot of room to fit in other indie games between all of those. And I'm still not even playing all the games I've technically purchased in that time period which includes Shin Megami Tensei V and Tales of Vesparia for the Switch.

ampersandrew,
ampersandrew avatar

EA/Ubisoft/Activision/etc. used to put out like 50 games per year, and now they put out like 5. This is a result of many things, including ballooning the size of the games that they make, but measurably, they are just making fewer games. That means games you used to enjoy playing no longer get made, whether that's Burnout or Deus Ex. Companies like Anna Purna, Devolver, TinyBuild, Paradox, and Embracer are rising to meet that middle ground of production value to feed those hungry customers the kinds of things they want but haven't been served in years.

spriteblood,

I find myself gravitating toward indie games a lot more due to the homogeneity in the AAA space. It feels like AAA games are like half storefront half game these days, and their prices are just getting more expensive.

Meanwhile indies and small studios with publishers are pumping out games that take risks, and offer unique experiences, and they're like $20. I can get three of those and a six pack for the same price as one broken-at-launch AAA game.

KillaBeez,

Both! I lean toward indie games, but there have been some banger AAA games with TOTK, Elden Ring, FF7 Remake, Persona, etc..

ultrasquid,
ultrasquid avatar

I'll occasionally play an AAA game if it's on sale, but usually I stick with indies. Indie games have the best stories, most unique art styles, and know how to make things challenging but fair.

Clangbang,

As a 38 year old who used to game a lot but stopped about 10 years ago, the steam deck has rekindled my love of gaming. The accessibility it offers, particularly with indie games has been wonderful. The deck is a more open and budget friendly version of the switch (to me at least).

I find triple a games try to do too much, combined with their virtually insatiable hunger for maximizing profit (through dlc, in game micro transactions, loot boxes, etc.) really turns me off of them.

KillaBeez,

Same! The Steam Deck has been the best purchase I’ve made in years. I can finally play games again!

I get good use out of my RG35XX as well

Varyag,
Varyag avatar

Yeah, over the past couple of years, the amount of AAA games that actually enticed me were very low, and some of the few that I actually got, were actually duds in the long run. I've actually experienced a renaissance in my own enjoyment of retro gaming instead, alongside a few select indie titles. I've found I'm generally having more fun exploring games that are 10-20 years old now, than anything new. There are so many good games that I did not experience back then, that are still excellent today. Things from the arcade ere, emulation of all the consoles up to the PS2 generation, and some stuff on GoG. There are so many more good games to experience today than what new AAA releases would have you believe.

The only AAA game I am hyped about, is the new ARMORED CORE 6. I am dying to play that and it looks like it's gonna be great. FromSoftware never misses.

H_Interlinked,
H_Interlinked avatar

I'm down to paying a full $60 price tag for a game, maybe 1-3 times a year at most. And one of those is usually a family/shared game for my wife or son. It's whatever big zeitgeist game I can't miss like Elden Ring. Next one will probably be Zelda TotK around Christmas. Maybe 2 copies of Diablo 4 if the wife wants to play it badly. Other than that I'm usually playing some indie game. Or a AAA that's 5+ years old. The household is 2 gaming PCs and just the switch for the living room.

gabo2007,

I'm firmly in the indie games camp. There are so many excellent, affordable, unique experiences in the indie world, and I know my money goes directly to individuals who worked hard on the game. Almost all of my favorite games in the last five years are from smaller studios or even individual creators.

I still dabble in AAA titles (looking at you, Tears of the Kingdom) but overall I'm pretty wary of blockbuster games.

Sabata11792,
Sabata11792 avatar

Same. You may get 8 hours out of an average triple-A game and 40 from a good one.

A good Indy game that matches your intrest will get 1000 hours and take over your life. A big company can't target a small neich and expect to get there investment back.

gunnervi,
gunnervi avatar

I almost always prefer a quirky game that does its own thing to a bland game with mass market appeal. Most AAA studios, especially as game budgets have exploded, are afraid to experiment with their gameplay or do anything new. Nintendo is probably the largest exception to this rule, but it comes with the caveat that they generally don't release new entries unless they come up with something new, which is sad for, like, Star Fox and F-Zero fans. But ultimately the more a game costs the less room there is for the sort of risk that makes for the truly special games

bloodaxe,
@bloodaxe@fosstodon.org avatar

@zauri27 I've been burnt too many times by fancy trailers and beautiful graphics... I mean, I'm a Star Citizen backer, I was fooled by pretty JPEGS! 😂

Most of the innovative things happen within the Indie community it seems, with people who are truly connected to their projects. They are driven by love for their craft AND the profit, unlike AAA-studio executives that focus only on the profits.

ripcord,
ripcord avatar

Not just jpegs, but $40-$3000 jpegs!

missingno,
missingno avatar

There's very little I care about from AAAs. Pretty much just Nintendo really, and only a few of their IPs.

I think what I miss most though is the space that existed in between. Small spinoff projects from large studios. Those mostly flourished on handheld, and when handhelds died so did an entire class of games.

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