If you want to get technical yeah I guess it wouldn’t be independent because it wasn’t independently funded.
Comment on Indie Game Awards Disqualifies Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Due To Gen AI Usage
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 7 hours agoSo is Animal Well not an indie game? Since they were funded and published by Bigmode.
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
kopasu22@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Most other “indie” games are not indie under that definition, too.
The indie renaissance that occurred in the late 00’s/early 10’s was mostly indie developers obtaining good publisher deals. Some indie developers still self-publish, but the majority don’t. There are even publishers that specialize in indie game publishing.
Balatro, a solo dev project, is not independently published. Blue Prince, another solo dev project, is not independently published. Every game developed by Supergiant is not “indie” (Bastion, Hades, etc.), nor are Stardew, Outer Wilds, Terraria, Subnautica, Dead Cells, etc.
Celeste and Hollow Knight are fully indie, though.