Summer Game Fest Showed That The Future Of Gaming Is Indie

Highlights

Indie video games dominate the 2024 best-seller checklist.
Triple-A recreation growth is unsustainable.
Firms like Blumhouse Video games and Innersloth are making waves by supporting smaller tasks.

Geoff Keighley kicked off Summer season Sport Fest by tempering expectations. It was a good name forward of a triple-A-lite present, and is usually a great factor to say to players forward of those showcases anyway. No matter you’re displaying bar Elden Ring 2, if it’s not Silksong and or Bloodborne Remastered on PC, folks will probably be mad.

Nonetheless, he adopted this up with a shocking begin to his reveal present. He talked about the layoffs, as members of the trade have been asking him to for years at this level, however glossed over them in favour of getting on with the world premieres. It looks as if he can’t do something proper, nevertheless it’s not too exhausting to point out solidarity and help for laid off builders. We’re asking for the naked minimal right here.

silhouette of a crowd watching Geoff Keighley at Summer Game Fest 2023 with BlizzCon 2023 to the right and EGX 2023 to the left

After this, Keighley revealed his PowerPoint presentation of the best-selling video games this yr, stating that eight of them have been made by small builders. “Two of them are thought of massive firm video games,” he says. “However the different eight come from indie, mid-sized groups, or solo builders.”

I’m unsure which of the Sony, Capcom, or Pocketpair video games is taken into account in any method small (presumably the Palworld developer, because it doesn’t fairly match the billions of the previous two), however his level is evident. Indies and double-A titles are ruling the roost in 2024.

It was implausible to see video games made by tiny groups, like Balatro and Buckshot Roulette, on this checklist. You go, players.

The remainder of the present adopted go well with. When your greatest identify is a Lego spinoff of a PlayStation unique and the best-received was a few bean with a gun, you realize this isn’t just like the SGFs of outdated. There wasn’t even a Kojima cameo, even if Loss of life Stranding 2 and OD are nonetheless in growth. Whereas different showcases had greater reveals (Ubisoft and Xbox confirmed loads of, effectively, Ubisoft and Xbox video games), the livestreams and showfloor have been dominated by indies.

In addition to Killer Bean, the most-talked about video games in my circles have been Slitterhead, Concern the Highlight, Afterlove EP, Neva, and Phantom Blade Zero. These are all vastly totally different video games aimed toward totally different audiences, however all have been given the highlight within the absence of triple-A bombshells.

Thank goodness the indies have stepped up. Triple-A growth is turning into more and more unsustainable. Budgets are increasing, timelines are extending, and sequels are actually complete console generations aside (and even two, in GTA 6’s case). If these video games don’t promote like hotcakes, complete studios will probably be shuttered, 1000’s of builders will probably be laid off, and the trade will finally crumble. Even when The Elder Scrolls 6 is a roaring success, quantity seven will probably be a decade later at this fee. Indies should fill the gaps.

The highlights of the present have been Blumhouse Video games and Innersloth. Each try to help the indie scene by putting quite a few small bets, as a substitute of placing all their chips on The Final of Us 3.

I assumed Blumhouse Video games can be asserting M3GAN: The Sport or one thing, however it’s as a substitute investing in half a dozen small horror video games, approaching the trade very like it does films. Blumhouse famously spends about $10 million on every of its horror flicks, and it appears to be taking the same tack with video video games. Horror video games and horror films have so much in widespread past the style itself, and small budgets might be stretched additional than in different genres.

Innersloth is following go well with, asserting the Outersloth fund for impartial builders. The Amongst Us developer is providing a pot of cash for small groups and bizarre video games, recommendation for devs who could also be new to the trade, and gained’t steal any of your IP for its hassle. It’s an unbelievable method of giving again, and should pave the way forward for the trade. Who is aware of what the subsequent Amongst Us will probably be, however Innersloth (or Outersloth) could fund it.

Whereas Xbox and PlayStation are duking it out within the ring, competing for each final greenback in your pockets, indie video games are co-operating and coming collectively. They’re serving to one another onto the empty pedestal vacated by the behemoths of the trade. The way forward for the trade shouldn’t be one other middling Murderer’s Creed recreation, it’s not one other Star Wars RPG. The way forward for the video games trade is impartial.