[johnnyanmac]

>I am convinced that games that are truly exceptional will be successful.

To be cynical, I think the last "truly exceptional" indie I played was Disco Elysium, and before that Terraria and Minecraft. If that's the bar than there is basically zero way any game can be successful. "truly exceptional" for me are once in a decade experiences that either flip the industry on its head or make me consider my own life perspectives. Not many games do that (nor do they need to, especially on a price point of $0-20).

Thankfully I'm wrong and there's plenty of "good games with good success". and even "mediocre (IMO) games that went viral). But I've also seen plenty of "good games go unnoticed". But if your POV is "good isn't good enough", then we may be talking past each other, or have different scale. I think 'good' should deserve a few thousand sales and a few mumbling on social media. Not exactly a high bar these days, but one so many indies still can miss.