E3 is traditionally seen as little more than a chance for triple A publishers and big name development companies to throw around the big bucks as they drown out the internet for a week. In more recent years however, there has been a noticeable increase in not only the small teams getting a stronger presence, but indie companies and Kickstarter projects making it to the center stage. Surprisingly even EA took the time out of their stage show to highlight a partnership with smaller start-ups. While Microsoft and Sony usually highlight a large number of projects coming to their platforms from the indie sector,when previously it was little more than a display of more shooters than we could shake a stick at.
If I had to pick a point when this indie renaissance began, it feels like this has been a slow progression towards main stream popularity ever since titles like Limbo and Braid hit the market. These titles weren’t alone of course. They do however stand as testament to that time frame when people stood up and began to take more notice, as consoles headed towards a more welcoming medium for games as a whole. The popularity of start-up systems like Kickstarter have been a huge influence behind this push, allowing interesting projects to get off the ground without needing tens of thousands in the bank to get a foot in the door.
More recent years have even seen a strong push from big names weary of the Triple A world leaving to simply fund what they want, free from contracts and companies. This increasing popular train of thought has created a strange middle ground. As experienced and driven teams allowed to create what they want at quality, without the same price tag. Recent examples being the former minds of Rare’s glory days returning to form with Yooka-Laylee. After being asked for years about a return to titles like Banjo-Kazooie, the new Playtonic team banded together and put it to the people to make the games they’ve wanted to create. Koji Igarashi, known best for the Castlevania franchise, is another big name who simply left to make his own project Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Igarashi’s name alone was enough to crash through the funding barrier as both Bloodstained and Yooka-Laylee begun to form a sort of mid-tier market. Something that stands in-between small and large studios but with the talent and funding behind the development.
Once used for small beginning studios, this change in mentality has started to resonate with legends in the industry as they begin to realize the increasing freedom for creativity available to them. This change to the market has created the epitome of the concept of “put your money where your mouth is”. People now have to freedom to pay as little or as much as they want to fund projects they want instead of relying on the big names to pump out focus tested safe bets.
This is hardly a perfect system however, with many indie horror stories of companies simply falling flat, failing to make it through or even running away with the money and goodwill generated. Mostly recently even the new Mighty No. 9 has finally hit with soured reviews and crushing disappointment after a long campaign of ups and downs. Double Fines mixed success with Broken Age left many weary of new investments after asking for more money and splitting the game into episodic format left many people angry.
Regardless of many shaky starts and stories of woe, gaming has been a more open medium for creativity than before in recent years. The fact that E3 has had to take notice and push promotion towards this influx of content means it’s already grown into a large part of the gaming industry. Not the mention companies like Ubisoft and EA branching out for smaller projects. Having less rigid restrictions, even opening to doors to partnering with indie devs, means more choice for everyone involved. It will be interesting to see how this begins to affect the gaming landscape, and hopefully, it’s for the better.
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