[bluescrn]

The quality of that 'average' has absolutely skyrocketed in the last decade or so, as ever-more-powerful tools have become available for ever-lower prices. But at the same time, we're also seeing 'indie' games with larger budgets than ever, either funded by publishers and or previous successes.

But games have been massively devalued over the last decade or so, when you've got AAA games practically given away (Game Pass, PS Plus, Steam sales), and indie games bundled up and sold for pennies, alongside the rise of F2P.

So now starting an indie game team is like starting an indie band. If you've got a bit of talent and put the effort in, you now have access to inexpensive high-end tools to unleash your creativity. But if you want to actually make money from your endeavours, it's getting ever-harder. And with the relative easy of porting games build with Unity/Unreal, even brand new platforms have completely oversaturated stores more or less by launch day, too.