The problem isn't and has never been the power, but how publishers sell the games.

The only way most of them use that power is for better graphics. Why? Because graphics are something that is easy to sell, they can make a trailer to show how good the game looks, and they can turn that trailer into an add and put it on TV, Youtube or websites. People go "Wow" and buy the game.

But how can they sell options? They can't. What they can do is make a good game and try to get the press/websites hyped for it so gamers know it and tell it to the rest of the people.

One way was more secure than the other, and therefore that's the route publishers have felt more comfortable with this gen. And I say was because this gen graphics alone won't be enough. We only have to look at the trailers of Killzone or Forza. How hard (and expensive) will be to make something that looks markedly better than that for a TV spot or Youtube video? Too much.

Maybe developers can get back some of the power they lost and make the games they want, not the ones that publishers want (prime example of this: Dead Space).

Aha !
I remember them saying that costs will barely rise for the next gen!

The collapse is apon us !

I also doubt that, as far as I know, most indie developers that end up being very successful still continue to make small games. I imagine because they are afraid to take the jump or even with their success they don't have the resources to make a mid-level game, I'm inclined more to the former. 

The thing is: The mid level devs were dropping like flies last generation!

The middle ground is almost non existant these days...

I have to go with Squeenix as the next THQ !
Their jump head over heels in mobile shovelware and the continuing devaluation of their existing IPs will cost them their heads !

I agree. I think the big issue, and my primary reason for largely dismissing indie developers as a viable long-term hope for gaming, is that very few indie games are truly a big financial success. The Minecrafts of the world are few and far between: most "successful" indie games pay for themselves and add on another five-to-six-figures or so in profit per developer, which is clearly insufficient to ever make said developer a long-term success. If there's going to be a hypothetical new wave, it'll be composed primarily of new, decently-funded small studios, a la Mistwalker,* who can make enough profits to actually grow.

*I am not completely sold Mistwalker will be such a success.

So you agree with me then?If so, smart management changes the marketing instead of wasting their money. Anybody going out of business still has none to blame but themselves.

I still don't understand how PC modders can achieve heights greater that actual devs by themselves. Why is this so expensive normally?

Oh, yes, I agree. But still, until publishers find a new or a better way for selling us their games, they will keep going for the OMFG-realistic route. Unfortunately for them.

When it comes to modders, I don't know. Most of the time it's because they are not 1 person but a group of them that use all their free time to do it. For devs/publishers that extra time isn't usually worth it. They have deadlines after all.

To you and the other guys that replied to me:

The mid-level devs dropped like flies because they didn't have the resources to develop mid-level games successfully on complicated platforms. The Xbone and the PS4 are architecturally earier to develop for, so this barrier will be a lot less next gen. Blockbuster games that max out the consoles will cost more, but mid-level games that don't need to max out the consoles will see a comeback in my opinion.

This is what I was thinking. Not every game needs that Killzone level production value.