Why have indie games become so popular?

In recent years, a large number of indie games have been released and have achieved serious success. There is even a group of players who only play games that are considered indie, some game engines provide free support to game developers in this category, up to a point. But where did these indie games come from? Why today and not in the past? We explain.

Actually, the origin of the word indie is not games, but movies. In fact, if we start the story from the very beginning, many surprise names are involved. Let me tell you this interesting story that connects Thomas Edison, Kodak, Hollywood, everything:

A formation called the Edison Fund, or Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), marks the beginning of this story in December 1908. At that time, the world's largest producer of stock footage Eastman Kodak (yes, that's Kodak), Thomas Edison, all the major US studios and George Kleine, the biggest distributor of the time, came together to form this company. What's their problem? To be a monopoly. Also in the USA? That was a little difficult.

While this formation had some useful applications, no one welcomed their wish to monopolize everything related to filmmaking. In response to this cartel, a few companies that describe themselves as "independent" (later shortened to indie) wanted to continue making films as they wished. Frustrated by the multitude of lawsuits filed by the MPPC, the producers chose to immigrate to another state. They made a small town in California their home: Hollywood.

We said indie game, why are you talking about cinema? Namely...

Of course, we'll cover the issue there as well. Now, for something to be indie, it first has to be independent of something. Okay, so what are we going to be independent about? There is no top institution in the gaming industry that we can be independent from, but there is a mainstream, which is often called AAA.

When it comes to AAA games, everyone thinks of big productions. In fact, AAA is an economics term, the safest stocks are rated AAA. Starred is something like okay, so this is AAA. In the gaming industry, they stand out as reliable games that you can invest your money in as "games that come out of a solid company, give the hardware its right to the end, and have very nice graphics". So the productions that come to your mind are the right productions.

Of course, hardware manufacturers, game developers and distributors are in contact with the game industry in a billion-dollar industry. The fact that we do not see 8-bit graphics in any AAA productions released today is a requirement of this collaboration. In fact, this is one reason why most games are specifically trying to juice up the hardware.

No one other than the developer of the game interferes with the games of indie game developers. For example, if you are a non-indie developer, someone from a distribution company may come to a game you have developed and say, "There is no Chinese villain in the story, we will sell the game in China." If no one other than the developer is included in the game, the production is indie.

Most gaming startups get into this business with either very low or no direct budget. As a result, they cannot do large graphic works. Instead, there are two methods they use to stand out, either to make a difference with game mechanics or to stand out with a story.

On the other hand, we often witness that indie developers make agreements with large companies for publication and distribution over time. This does not exclude indie developers from this category, as there is no interference in the most basic rule of game development.

After the word Independent was shortened to Indie, it started to find a place for itself in almost every genre. In the 1970s, when consoles were king of the gaming industry, there was hardly any work in this area. With the rise of computers in the 80s, the first serious breakthroughs appeared.

"How were indie game developers selling games because there was no Steam etc at that time?" There will be those who think so. The system called Shareware was being used. In this strange method, the user was getting the game for free. Although he liked the game, he sent money to the producer by letter.

In the nineties, large companies and distributors almost stomped on all other companies and left them with such a gap that they would not die. Most companies didn't even need to send developer kits to indie developers. In the 2000s, the color of things would change a lot, an incredible amount.

The introduction of Steam into our lives in the 2000s (exactly in 2003) heralded a great change. We didn't need CDs etc. to buy original games anymore. GoG in computer games, Xbox Game Store on consoles, PlayStation Network and Nintendo Network inflamed the fire started by Steam. The new system worked for everyone.

Moreover, this was not the only alternative for those who wanted to make games at that time. Flash-based games could be made with a little effort. In fact, this genre was very popular at that time, with its small size and ability to be played anywhere. In fact, some of these productions later went to other platforms as mobile games or mini-games.

Another important development took place in 2005 and Unity, which helped to overcome the 3D game engine shortage, came. Even the way game engines like Unreal Engine are sold has changed with Unity. It's a great opportunity for indie game developers.

Firms such as Team17 and Double Fine have also started to stand out as indie supporter publishers that never interfere with developers. Moreover, the producers were not necessarily dealing with making computer games. They could earn money both with the games they published on sites like Facebook and with mobile games. Platforms like Kickstarter also allowed makers to raise funds by making promises.