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Re:Game Studios Are Turning Play into Work by AlexandrB on Thursday January 13, 2022 @01:45PM (#29924831)
I'm dreading the day that one of the big AAA publishers acquires Supergiant Games. Hoping that it doesn't happen, but I can't imagine the founders are going to wave off multi-million (or even billion?) dollar offers forever.
Re:Game Studios Are Turning Play into Work by riveducha on Thursday January 13, 2022 @07:59PM (#29929239)
The total games market is expanding at a rate where you will have more quality indie games from new game makers than you could possibly play. If Supergiant gets bought and turned into a cash grab, there will be plenty of others out there to take their place.
Re:Game Studios Are Turning Play into Work by AlexandrB on Thursday January 13, 2022 @10:49PM (#29930404)
Yes, but game developers are not fungible. There's still a PopCap shaped hole in indie games since their acquisition by EA.

I'm sure there will be other indie games, but Supergiant's combination of excellent music, art style, and unique, well polished gameplay is not something you see a lot of.

Re:Game Studios Are Turning Play into Work by iratewizard on Friday January 14, 2022 @01:26AM (#29931218)
I like a lot of indie games, but I cut them slack for their budget. Indie devs will never accomplish what massive budget, ambition, experience and talent can make. The best I've seen from indie in my opinion is hollow knight. Objectively compared to LoZ:OoT, THPS, GTA IV, etc makes it clear they are in different leagues. Objectively compared to modern AAA like halo infinite's campaign, fallout 76, or cyberpunk, it looks like AAA is dead.

Maybe it was the HR departments that killed them. Maybe it was, in shifting from art to product, they unlearned the basics of how to make fun. Either way, nothing interesting will come from it for a long time.