Neowiz developed Lies of P and the DJ Max franchise, is it still an indie studio?

[ambassador]

I mean it's maybe not a full Triple A company like From Software or Koei Tecmo yet, but Neowiz is also an industry leader of another popular genre (PC and console musical rhythm games) like the other two are in their own genre. If FromSoft is the flagship developer of Soulslike games, Neowiz is for rhythm game. They already know how to make great games, just for different audiences.

I would say any perceived gap in production value between Lies of P and Soulsbourne franchise/Koei's Nioh and Wo Long is due to difference in specialization (rather than scale) of company resources rather than Neowiz purely being indie in scale. And there's the difference in experience. Developing a great game requires a lot of experience in narrow fields of genre-specific expertise, and as far as I know Lies of P was Neowiz's first try on a Soulslike game.

Though being a longtime self-publisher probably helps with whipping their QA team into make an effort to ensure optimization for a smooth launch/good first week performance. A lot of Lies of P's artistic concepts and gameplay elements may have been copied from progenitors, but where it excels best I think is in their execution, of what is a very simple formula. A lot of past devs have botched this very simple final step with their previous "Triple A" games in a worrying trend that is getting worse and worse (of companies becoming lazy on optimization) with the introduction of modern "AI-enhancing" techniques, which makes the efforts of Lies of P stand out in comparison.

I'd say this level of post-production management is also what makes Lies of P feel like it's not made by an indie company. It's more like the methodical work of an experienced developer who has already known success and keeping faithful to their proven formula, of how to make and release a successful title in general. And things like having good voice acting and soundtracks (two areas where Neowiz has more experience than From Software (not that From Software's is bad), which shows in their different storytelling method)... one of Neowiz's most well-known forte is making great and diverse music, so it should come as a package.

[potato]

this game feels like aa but certainly not aaa