[thedevelopnik]

But there are so many good games that have none of this bullshit. Check out Hades. It is so fun. And it is self-contained. The dev doesn’t even have interest in making an expansion despite demand because they made a fun, complete game and they’re done.

There are lots of games outside the pay-to-play arena, even AAA ones. The Playstation Spider-Man games are another great example.

Unless those get support, they may actually disappear.

[cpeterso]

If you like Hades, check out Noclip's (nearly five-hour long) documentary series about Hades' development:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-THgg8QnvU4JEVov1tMl...

[AlexandrB]

I'm dreading the day that one of the big AAA publishers acquires Supergiant Games. Hoping that it doesn't happen, but I can't imagine the founders are going to wave off multi-million (or even billion?) dollar offers forever.

[riveducha]

The total games market is expanding at a rate where you will have more quality indie games from new game makers than you could possibly play. If Supergiant gets bought and turned into a cash grab, there will be plenty of others out there to take their place.

[AlexandrB]

Yes, but game developers are not fungible. There's still a PopCap shaped hole in indie games since their acquisition by EA.

I'm sure there will be other indie games, but Supergiant's combination of excellent music, art style, and unique, well polished gameplay is not something you see a lot of.

[iratewizard]

I like a lot of indie games, but I cut them slack for their budget. Indie devs will never accomplish what massive budget, ambition, experience and talent can make. The best I've seen from indie in my opinion is hollow knight. Objectively compared to LoZ:OoT, THPS, GTA IV, etc makes it clear they are in different leagues. Objectively compared to modern AAA like halo infinite's campaign, fallout 76, or cyberpunk, it looks like AAA is dead.

Maybe it was the HR departments that killed them. Maybe it was, in shifting from art to product, they unlearned the basics of how to make fun. Either way, nothing interesting will come from it for a long time.

[wutbrodo]

This is so obviously the case that it's difficult to read the GP comment as anything but a troll. The idea that harebrained monetization schemes have taken over gaming to the point that you avoid it is just flatly lunatic.

I barely even play indie games and I have literally never interacted with any of the much-maligned monetization schemes that people complain about.

That doesn't suggest they don't exist, nor that complaints aren't legitimate. But the idea that they're impossible or even non-trivial to avoid is idiotic.