Mr Khan said:
It's not like they haven't always existed, just that distribution was a huge issue, though i'm sure you could always find fan-games and self made or self-published games even back to the earliest days of UseNet floating around. The fad really started just because there was a hunger for smaller games that the big guys just weren't filling for the most part. There still is such a hunger on consoles, though with proliferation of services like Virtual Console and rival means of distributing older games, as well as the explosion of games that are smaller still on mobile, this need is rapidly getting crowded out. |
As you say, distribution is the reason.
What I mean by "indie" going away is the mentality that i) all those games are automatically better/more artistic than other types of games, doing something truly new and visionary, and iii) developers can do whatever they want, or even not do anything and just get money for a slick idea (Kickstarter)
The VC and Kickstarter money will become more selective, and the market will demand higher standards than the current glitchy messes on Steam Early Access. It will not be fun for the kind of indies who spend more time on Twitter than actually developing, but those who remain will do well.
