I can already see many of you shaking your head with regards to this article. What exactly is an indie video game? Why does this question even need to be asked?! Everyone already knows what an indie video game is, right?! Well, tell that to The Game Awards, the largest and most notable awards in the gaming industry! As I write this, the nominations for The Game Awards 2023 have been announced and one of the discussion points has turned out to be one that no one was expecting. You see, among the titles nominated for Best Independent Game is Dave the Diver, a well-received game that certainly looks like something you’d associate with indie games but is actually made by a subsidiary of Nexon, a company whose value is in the billions of dollars and employs thousands! This fact did not escape notice and, while I’m not sure if The Game Awards will make any changes based on the response, I thought it time to discuss indie video games and what exactly they are.
Let’s start by defining what an indie video game is. Indie is short for independent and refers to video games that have been developed outside of the traditional production of game development which involves being funded by a publisher. While independent development of video games have been around for some time, it was the advent of digital distribution in the 00s that led to the explosive growth in independent video game developers whose contributions to the industry have only grown and grown over the years. Many of these games have proven to be so critically and commercially successful that even so-called AAA developers and publishers have taken note of their innovation and incorporated it into their own projects.
Despite this seemingly neat definition, it’s actually grown more and more complex to define what an indie game is over the years. This comes down to two critical components when it comes to ascertaining whether a game is indie or not. The first is whether the game is self-funded and not from a publisher and, secondly, whether the game’s development was without influence from a publisher. Understandably, there can be numerous exceptions to these and, in fact, can be quite difficult to ascertain at times.
While I often like to see if a game is self-published in order to figure out whether it’s an indie or not, even this isn’t sufficient! Due to their popularity and acclaim, many indie games have ended up getting published by major corporations as part of programs such as Square Enix Collective and EA Originals and some indie companies have even gone on to become publishers themselves!
Despite this growing difficulty in defining what an indie game is, there are certain components that remain irrefutable. In the case of Dave the Diver, the developer, Mintrocket, was established as a subsidiary of Nexon and, despite the seemingly small-scale development, is a prime example of a game that has a look associated with indie games but is definitively not an indie game. The fact that this mistake has been made by The Game Awards is a clear sign that we need to remind ourselves what indie games truly are. I adore indie games and I honestly believe that they are one of the best parts of the modern gaming industry and they deserve to have their spotlight, not overshadowed by products that look indie but are produced and overseen by large companies.
Let me know your thoughts on indie video games, what your definition of an indie game would be exactly, the fact that The Game Awards has made such a blunder, what some of your favourite indie video games are and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.