I've always wondered if these indie games actually make a profit. they don't cost as much,but they also don't sell as much. I've recently got bastion on sale and it's a fun game,but I don't know if that one is indie. Some of these indie games can be fun and they appeal to my retro fix,but do they actually make any money? curious minds want to know.

If they weren't then there wouldn't be so many of them.

Some do. Some don't. Just like AAA and AA games.

It's worth noting that while yes, they don't cost as much to purchase, their budgets are also significantly lower so they don't need to sell an extreme amount to make a profit.

yes:

Many indie games are made as a past time (granted, it's a helluva time consuming past time), so making profit isn't always the goal.

hello onionberry. 

As of June 30 2015, Shovel Knight has sold about 700,000 "copies". The game generally costs $15 USD. Using the power of math, Shovel Knight has made ~10,500,000 USD. The game was developed with around $311,000. So its safe to say Shovel Knight has been very profitable.

But that's just one game. Most indie games have different budgets. The budget, quality, and sales all correlate usually.

Most of them do. It is not expensive to develop indie game.

When you consider the amount of fees AAA pay vs the low amount of fees indies pay, indies earn a decent salary.

AAA games have major marketing, console manufacture fees, retailer fees, engine license fees, 100's of employees salaries, expensive contractors, large rent to support hundreds of employees.

Indie games usually are small studios, low rent, rely on word of mouth and console manufacture generosity/youtubers for marketing, very few employees and cheap unity fees. Unreal engine isn't used that often with independant games, they can usually get equal or better results out of cheaper engines.