Nintendo, Activision and Electronic Arts (EA) have had a good run over the last 20 years, but they are facing unprecedented competition from indie game developers. Local grassroots movements by indie gamers are changing the market completely.
Defragmentation of the Gaming Industry
Launch Media Network, is a media agency in Georgia that specializes in covering trends in the film, gaming and digital media industries. They hosted a conference in October and brought over a hundred experts from the gaming industry to share their perspective on the direction the industry was headed.
These experts stated that a number of factors are shaping the future of video game development. The popularity of new indie games by local developers was one of the biggest factors.
Indie developers are also boosting their local economies. Asante Bradford, the liaison for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said that Launch Media Network alone has created numerous jobs for communities in Georgia and neighboring states.
"Launch Media is not only producing jobs in Georgia, but they are supporting opportunities for students, companies, and gaming enthusiasts," Bradford said.
In the late 1990s, the top 20 games generated the vast majority of gaming revenue. Developers needed budgets of at least a million dollars to publish a game that would compete in the market.
Things have drastically changed over the past couple of years. Small indie developers have gained a strong following and are starting to take market share from their larger rivals.
What is Driving Demand for Indie Games?
In March, Gamusatra published an article about the state of the indie gaming sector. They interviewed Randy Smith, a representative from Tiger Style, who estimates that the market is generating close to $1 billion a year.
"We have some numbers that estimate the size of the indie games market," said Smith. "Valve [now] processes significant more than $1 billion in indie game sales every year, and it's over one third of their total game market."
What factors are driving demand for Indie games? Here are a few.
Desire for Something Different
Industry giants like Activision and EA have become complacent in recent years. They have had some good hits. However, they tend to create many of the same things over and over again.
People have grown tired of seeing similar titles. GamenGuide says that people have also grown tired of remakes.
"Remastered titles didn't help the multi billion-dollar gaming industry neither. Most of remakes suffer backlash in revenue as well. In fact, BitFeed reported that even "Dead Rising Triple Pack" registered as the biggest flop of 2016. Come to think of it all of "Dead Rising" iterations were highly-acclaimed and shattered sales records when they weren't yet remastered and repacked.
Blame it on cost-cutting measures of most game developers this day because all of these can be traced from financial viewpoint. Developing an original title will quantify larger group who will focus on storyline, assets production, coding and so on. On the contrary, remastered games can be produced with small team who will pick up from the elements of previous game."
They simply want something new. Indie developers have a fresh perspective, which is driving demand for new titles.
Backing from New Funding Sources
In the past, it was very difficult for small developers to get funding to compete with the likes of EA. Today, it is much easier to get financial backing, as long as a developer has a good idea.
Glitch is a new non-profit that helps local indie game developers. Evva Kraikul, co-founder of Glitch, said many people have trouble getting funding from venture capitalists, so she helps them find other financing options.
"Art communities don't regard video games as art and venture capitalists don't look at them unless it's new hardware or software."
Many developers also use crowd funding tools to get money to develop their games.
More Accessible Technology
Advances in cloud computing and other forms of technology have made it easier for indie developers to get in on the game. They have access to the tools they need to build awesome games from scratch. This has reduced the barrier to entry and allowed more local developers to bring awesome titles to the market.