I think games cost a lot of money to make profitable (i.e. appeal to the standards of most people).
Even if all professional game designers/programmers/artists stopped getting paid and quit, people would still make and enjoy free games, and they would probably much better than whatever generic crap is greenlight by publishers.
So I don't believe that the artistic value nor the quality of video games depends on the success video game industry, In fact I would say they are orthagonal to each other.
I do believe the best indie games are way better than the best AAA games (gameplay wise). But all of them are commercial. In other words, there is no non-commercial game that I would consider the best at anything.
There are mods that are better than the games themselves, but making the base game is what costs money and nobody does for free.
Even if all professional game designers/programmers/artists stopped getting paid and quit, people would still make and enjoy free games, and they would probably much better than whatever generic crap is greenlight by publishers.
So I don't believe that the artistic value nor the quality of video games depends on the success video game industry, In fact I would say they are orthagonal to each other.