What's an Indie Game?

[Nuvendil]

twintail said:

jason1637 said:

Spiderman i would say isnt an indie because they dont own the IP but i consider Sunset Overdrive an indie since they own the IP and its made by an independent studio even if its funded by MS. In the movie Biz many indie movies are funded by other companies.

Indie correlation is not 100% across different media.

Indie for movies usually means small studios.

For music it means not a mainstream label.

For books it means niche appeal/ not wide release.

 

Even if we look at movies, indie movies usually have limited releases and are not mainstream at all. Sunset was a major release with a major budget intended for the mainstream. 

It's far from being indie.

Actually, as a writer, I can point out your definition of indie for writers is wrong.  It means self published and written.  This is because the relationship between publisher and writer goes way beyond distribution, unlike games where publishers frequently do act more or less purely as distributors.  Shoot there are game publishers where that's all you do.

If a project being sizable invalidates the indie tag than...what's the point?  Indie is a word with definite meaning.  It means independent.  Has nothing to do with budget.  It's a profound oxymoron that indies are more restricted in what they can do and still be recognized for what they are than AAA companies.