Indie Devs > AAA studio

[medledan16]

Does anyone else agree that indie devs with 3+ man small teams are running circles around AAA studios with 200 million dollar budgets, and 1,000 devs? These AAA fools take 9 years to make a video game, and it's a total piece of ♥♥♥♥. Mass AAA studio layoffs each week because their games are total trash. Yet we get Indie dev games like Palworld, Enshrouded, and Vampire Survivors. Hell the dudes that made this game had no idea how to code and even use Unreal and they figured it out as they went.

Exceptions are From Soft and Rockstar.

[Sagebrush]

Yep. AAA is soul-crushed drones pumping out predatory live service propaganda crap for marks.

[fluffy buny]

Originally posted by Sagebrush:

Yep. AAA is soul-crushed drones pumping out predatory live service propaganda crap for marks.

i was saying this back when diablo 2 was new

how nothing changes

[Xaelon]

Consider that AAA developers are controlled by shareholders who are focused only on the business side of things and have never played a game in their life, let alone the game they're paying to make. So what kinds of games do they have made? The stuff that sold lots years ago. Hense why we're still getting live service looter shooters. AAA developers are STILL trying to release the next Destiny or the next World of Warcraft.

It's a shame they don't seem to understand that the their customer base got sick of that stuff years ago.

It's less of a case of indie developers being 'better' that AAAs, and more that indie developers have WAY more freedom because they're not shacked to the whims of shareholders who know nothing about games.

The bigger the company, the more risk adverse it seems to be. AAA developers are only willing to commit to releasing what's safe, hense why they almost always release the same thing with fancier graphics.

[GoldInfinit7]

Disagree. People just wear different pair of eyeglasses when playing an independent title than when they’re playing a big studio title.

[mr meeseeks]

nope, triple a is more fun imo

[Chibi Life]

Yes cuz one group is doing it out of passion, while the other group is literally a money succubus. AAA studios use a plethora of psychology in their game designs to extract money from us by excessive cost cutting while giving us very little in return.

If people stopped giving money to these succubus they would be forced to make good games again. But unfortunately their psychological tricks work.

[a real miko (true)]

Originally posted by Dae:

Hot take: Both are equally garbage.

my man, preach it

[medledan16]

Originally posted by Zeniant:

nope, triple a is more fun imo

Some OG AAA studios of the past are. Halo, Mass Effect, Half Life....but lately; mannnnnnnnnnnn.

[Julmara]

AAA is most of the time focused on quick growth and nothing more throwing trash at the wall and see what sticks

[lumina]

Just like many mom and pop type restaurants are better than the chains. It's because you find many more people doing it for the love of what they are doing, or who are at least desperately trying to please in order to create a name for themselves, than you will find in any corporate culture.

In my experience, it's also far more fun to work for smaller businesses than corporations. Corporations just create models that everyone has to fit into. Small businesses have more managers who cater to individual employees and their needs.

Corporate bureaucracies are energy vampires.

[TheLevelCap]

Many indie games are great: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, A plague tale 1 and 2. AAA these days want to easy farm with live service, skins and passes. They managed to fool people into believing this is content.

[Sapphiro]

Simple:
Game publisher is a company.
Company exists to make money for their owner/investors.
In past they did it by releasing good product people would enjoy.
Now they learned all they need is brand recognition and monetizing frustration and you still have enough idiots who will literaly throw their (and their parents´s) money at them, making enough money and cutting the expenses of making actually good product.

Indie devs dont have brand recognition.

[Brma]

With a few exceptions, yes.

[carbonfibre]

Originally posted by fluffy buny:

Originally posted by Sagebrush:

Yep. AAA is soul-crushed drones pumping out predatory live service propaganda crap for marks.

i was saying this back when diablo 2 was new

how nothing changes

2000 and the years around it were golden years. Which games did you think were soul-crushed? AAA wasn't really a term back then and even EA wasn't churning out that much. Everything from Dues Ex, Thief 2, Baldurs Gate 2. Age of Empires 2, GTA 3 (was around that time, maybe a year or 2 later) Way more freedom with the likes of Counter Strike being modded off the back Half Life 2. Even the Sims was innovative for the time. The list of classics is mind blowing. The greatest era for pc gaming in my opinion.

[Scraps]

As tepid a take as "big corpo bad, indie good" is, AAA and indie can both be ♥♥♥♥ lords to their respective playerbase. They can both incorporate shady business practices, and be deplorable towards their respective employees. The morality of crunch is barely a factor because people outside the industry typically don't care, as long as the product is good.

It's always good practice to do your due diligence and research, whether it's buying a AAA product or helping crowdfund an indie game.