As soon as someone thinks of video games, they often think of classic games, like maybe Mario, Fortnite, or Halo. But, why are these the classics? I mean, yes, these are all great games with incredible graphics, but why are these the classics instead of other highly rated and appreciated games like Stardew Valley, Terraria, or Hollow Knight? This can mainly go down to the differences between game development studios.
First off, game development is absolutely crucial to the output of your favorite games. From developing the storyline, to creating the graphics, to testing the gameplay, game development is all the important steps to creating a video game. This is where development studios come into play. So much goes into the process of creating games, and while it only takes one person to have an idea, it (usually) takes way more than one person to make a game, at least, when it comes to the more intense side of the industry. That’s also where we can see a difference between game development studios.
Just like with any other industry, some companies have loads of money, and others don’t. This is why game development studios are split into two different groups: AAA (Triple A) studios, and Indie (Independent) studios. AAA studios like Nintendo and Ubisoft have way better funding, allowing for a high output of material, incredible graphics, and access to your class characters like Mario. On the other hand, Indie studios like Team Cherry or Re-Logic have low budget, small teams, and have to create new characters instead of milking the use out of beloved characters tested by time. However, these group’s upside is they have the people’s support, due to the controversy of where AAA companies are trying to take the game industry.
To fully understand why Indie studios are also considered, “The people’s development studios,” is because of the scummy things the giants of the gaming industry are doing. My biggest example of this would have to be the prices of games and consoles. A recent example of this is the newly released Switch 2 from gaming giant Nintendo, selling for… $450 dollars. But that’s okay, because each Nintendo game only costs… $80. That means that to simply play the newest Nintendo games, you need to fork over $530, unless of course you get a deal like a Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart World, in which case you “only” need to pay $500 dollars. This also goes hand in hand with another problem with these companies, specifically the rushed releases of games. The problem with this is that in order to maximize profits, these triple AAA companies are putting out sub-par overdone games just for money. This makes it clear that these huge companies are just doing whatever they can to make as much money as possible whilst showing the lowest amount of care for the industry, and that’s where Indie games come in.
The truth is that Indie game studios are just mold breakers. They create new content, and break the trends that the AAA companies and giants have set. This can be seen from games like Balatro, a poker rouge-like that took the world by storm, utilizing its addictive gameplay and infinite skill and strategy to top other rogue likes for the low price of $10. Or, there’s the case of Hollow Knight SilkSong, a platformer that was so highly anticipated that it managed to crash Steam, Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation stores, hitting a peak of 574,000 concurrent players on release date for only $20. These companies are putting out incredible content for low prices that are reshaping the way people think about gaming, and how they view the gaming industry as a whole.
Both of these games got nominated for best game of their respective years (2024 for Balatro, 2025 for Hollow Knight: SilkSong,) while utilizing a small budget and small development teams. I mean, Team Cherry, the group that made Hollow Knight SilkSong, is mainly just three guys; Ari Gibson, William Pellen, and Jack Vine. This just shows how much the industry is changing, and that these small industries are what’s making a difference in this industry.
