Indie games are taking over the video game industry

Hunter Campolo, staff writer

Indie video games have had an incredible impact on the video game industry, as they encourage innovation and competition in the space and hold a special place in the hearts of fans all around the world. An indie game is a video game developed and published by a small team, or often one person, with no funding or backing from a large studio. A few notable ones are Undertale, Cuphead and notably Terraria, which happens to be the eighth highest grossing game of all time. Because they have less resources, they typically can’t pay for a ton of marketing, so developers must turn to other methods to garner an audience. They reach out to streamers, gaming journalists or make YouTube videos, but not much else. These methods aren’t to be disregarded though, as if they contact the right streamer, they can explode in popularity. For example, Balatro , a poker-based indie game, blew up after contacting the popular twitch streamer NorthernLion, and the number of wish lists went from 200 to 200,000. 

“I’ve played Balatro every single day since I found it,” said junior Brandon Ratelle. “It’s probably one of my favorite games now.”  

Other indie games, like Peak and Silksong have become incredibly popular besides Balatro in 2025. Silksong, in particular, is one of the biggest indie games of all time, and was one of the most anticipated games of all time. The developers took an unusual route to promote their game, and it was by not promoting it. After dropping their hit game Hollow Knight in 2017, the development team, Team Cherry, announced bonus content in 2019. Since announcing it, they went completely radio silent for six years. Rumors turned into anticipation, which turned into a virtual mob of eager fans. United by the bond of the endless wait for the game’s release, people started descending into madness. One man made a YouTube channel called Daily Silksong News, which uploaded roughly one 20 second video every single day, announcing that there was no news for that day, reaching 1,537 consecutive videos up until the game released on Sept. 4, 2025. The developers, right before announcing the release date, logged onto their social media to see their game was massive. This was all unintended, the game was originally supposed to become bonus content for Hollow Knight but ended up being a separate game and took so long to come out because they developers were having “too much fun.” 

“I waited six years since Hollow Knight released for Silksong. I am literally a different man, and the game is still fire,” said Kevin Green, a University of Florida student.  

Upon coming out, a popular game publishing site, named Steam, crashed because of all the people trying to purchase it at once. 5.2 million people had added it to their wish list at the time of release, breaking the former record of 2.9 million held by Monster Hunter Wilds. Additionally, in the first three days, they sold around 4 million copies, an amazing turnout. 

These games are a breath of fresh air from the corporate formulaic games known as AAA games. AAA games are massive projects made by big companies with seemingly unlimited budgets and time, and they are typically supposed to be very popular. There are some games that have been solidified as classics, such as Elden Ring, which sold 23 million copies in two years, making a massive profit while providing an incredible experience for the players.  

“I loved Elden Ring. I really liked the expansiveness and direction of it, which was better than the quantity over quality approach I have been feeling recently from AAA games,” said Mr. Conlan, an avid video game player. 

Unfortunately, they’ve recently lacked creativity and soul. Compared to the small teams that make amazing creative indie games, they're like a melting ice cream cone on a hot summer day: fleeting deliciousness but expensive and falling apart. This is especially true for Concord, a massive game with an astonishing $400 -million budget, that completely flopped. The reason for it’s failure was due to bugs, lack of creativity, and excessive microtransactions, all bundled together and topped off by the $40 price point, like a bowtie on a nicely wrapped gift.  

Thankfully, of all the games put out, whether they are large or small, the market is full of gems. While it sometimes takes some work to find them, the payoff is well worth the journey.