Sony has been talking almost non stop about indies lately, Nintendo has been trying a great deal to get them on board too. and Microsoft has been getting tons of shit because of their position on indies up until they had to change their entire policies regarding them. 

But really, are indies THAT important? we keep hearding news and statements about them, sony spending a good deal of time in their E3 show on them, some people even stating that one of the reasons xbox one will fail because its previous policies on indie games. 

But are indie games that important to gamers? to console manufacturers? will they sell systems ? because Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft seem to be making such a huge fuss about the matter, i do see it as an important matter, but not as people claim it to be. i dont see indie games moving systems or being a reason why a consumer choses a console over the other

Indie games are definitely not as useful as actual First Party or recognized Third Party games. Most of them are a side to the main course. Especially to the general gaming market.

So, no. They won't make a large difference.

i actually believe that, and that makes me wonder, what the hell is all this fuss about indies?

im thinking maybe its about digital revenue? you know, the more indie games on the platform the more games sold through PSN/Xbox live/eshop and the more they make money from getting that 30% cut off of every game sold. 

To me they are a nice bonus but not going to be the deciding factor for which console I get. If I were trying to decid ewhich console to purchase, indie support would help but there are many things that come first.

It's more about developing relationships with future game developers, some of whom may be quite extraordinary.

Funny thing is that Xbox 360 has more indie titles in its library than its competition.
90% of indies on XBL and Steam are garbage copies of the NES and SNES hit side scrollers.

I believe the industry as a whole is changing and big publishers will be regulated to big expensive projects and more risky stuff will come to the independent area. Why indies are important to MS, Sony and Nintendo is that we are seeing a lot of good developers out there that want to direct their own company, start small with 5 man teams and produce high quality games for cheaper budgets. All the players want to tap into this development pool and gamers get to play more diverse games as a result.

As to how important indies will be for a console, it will always be the big budget eye popping games produced by the console maker or big publisher that are the bread and butter for each maker. I believe indies just fill a whole for smaller more unique projects. Sony, MS and Nintendo do not want to miss out on the gold rush but they also do not want to clutter their library with a lot of crap either. I guess it will be which company that can get the good out of the crap that will prevail.

Well, even if ,imo, they will not move hardware. I think they are important for a couple of reason.

1) Indie often brings originality where well know studios bring repetitivity. *cough COD cough*

2) They represent, nowadays, far more people than they used to.

3) They brings tons of mini games at low price (while they're mostly shovelware some are true perl like minecraft).

4)It helps discovering new talent. They are filled mostly with young programmers, artist, manager. Those who succeed as indies may constitute the future employee of a well know studios.

5) they are like a cheap gamble, if you do not support them you'll get only little from them, but if you support them well and a vast number indies decide to jump in you can be sure that someone, somewhere at some point will produce somehing amazing that will produces revenue that as cost you almost nothing.

Nope, I don't think they are.

I don't think indies as a whole make a big difference in terms of console sales, but a few indies that hit it big can make a difference, even if it's just a small one. Microsoft has likely moved some hardware thanks to its console exclusivity of Minecraft. That's why I think it's important for platform-holders to make things as easy as possible for indies; not because indies are going to take over the industry and supplant AAA games (they aren't), but because you don't want to miss out on the select few who hit it big and can bring big money and attention to your platform.