Should Lines Be Drawn To Differentiate Different Indie Studios?

Games come in all shapes and sizes and from various places of origins, but some of us have differing opinions of what an indie game is. How do we differentiate an independent developer from a major, excuse the term, Triple-A studio? Should we even have labels?

[Desolate_Hybrid]

This is always one of those strange arguments that people claim to not care about until other people start talking about it.

Indies really are a tricky bunch because the term is so vague, and everyone has different expectations. I agree that we really shouldn't have labels and just enjoy games as they are, but there will always be labels so I guess it's a bit of a fantasy to think that way.

[DiscoKid]

I agree. It's a pretty vague term. It used to be so simple, but now it's just blown out of its usual proportion. Most clueless people think indie = done in their mother's basement with a couple of friends.

Honestly at this point, they should just rid the label. Games are games.

[zeph94]

Why not just use levels based on the amount of people working on the game and funding.

(lvl) (emp)

A 100 - $5,000,000 -
B 50-100 $1,000,000 - 5,000,000
C 20-50 $500,000 - you get the idea.

[DiscoKid]

lol beats me. A classification based off a game's budget is pretty much the same as the classifications of indie and non-indie. People will think that the higher the budget, the better it should be.

[zeph94]

I mean we could just do it based on how many devs there are. If I saw a sweet game from a C level dev I'd think it's probably better, and has had more time in it than an A level. Which probably churned the game out in a year.

[seupai1085]

I see what you're saying but I doubt it'll work.

[Gamer666]

I am not sure on the ps4 (I don't buy indie games on my ps4), but with x1 pricing of the indie games on their marketplace is based on a calculation related to game production costs.

[sinspirit]

Because, Indie is about a studios independence, not their employee amount and gaming budgets.

Riot Games is technically independent, yet they currently have the worlds most popular game and about 1,000 employees. They don't rely on external publishing or have to answer to a parent company.

[toddybad]

They're all games. Whether they're good or not is all that matters.

Weird obsession this.