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Honestly I think if your budget is in the millions, you cant really call it indie.

When Notch originally made Minecraft, for example, the budget was just any money he had made from his actual job. That's indie.

Notch's new game, however, once he makes it, probably wouldn't be considered indie because he now has resources superior to any indie developer.

Indie simply means independent as stated. A privately owned, not shareholder bound. There are definitions for a reason.

They have control over finances and direction. And as fairmont stated as well.

Yeah, but there's also themes. Something can be technically correct but not fit in. Think of your favorite indie game not counting Expedition 33, it likely was a risk for the developers who made it because they didn't have proper funding.

Themes does not matter. It is clear cut. Independent, and privately owned. Funding does not matter.

It can technically be an indie game, but when people want to see someone win an award for best indie game, they want to see a struggling team prevail against the odds. Not a team that has the resources to simply try again if all else failed.

I know what Indie means, but I define things with vibes sometimes. Definitions exist so that we understand language. But language is also a vibe tool as well. You know if something doesn't feel Indie. Again, I don't care that it won indie award. It's my favorite game of recent memory, but I don't consider it Indie.

Fully agree, bat.

Except that second to last part.

And didn’t they succeed against the odds? They were ex developers from Ubisoft. When they went in, they are starting from the bottom.

Games are volatile, without a money backing from shareholders. A project like that can ruin them.

If they didn’t hit the mark, that might have been it for the studio. Where a shareholder backed one, can absorb the cost. Possibly for years until they hit it.

Many indies are between $5M to $30M. It is within the ballpark of a huge risk, but also a lower break even point to turn a profit.

All I am saying, is to support where the talent is coming from and acknowledge it. Since all denying it does, is discrediting the independent community.

They had enough money to decide that 9 million was an acceptable investment for the game. That means they have resources. Companies without resources don't spend millions on their first project. They slowly work their way up with smaller projects or keep it fully in-house to keep costs down.

They had the resources yes, but they wanted to prove a point. And they did so. $9M isn’t unusual for an indie company.

Take PocketPair as well, they risked bankruptcy and pulled through. Wasn’t the best idea, but risks are sometimes taken.

PocketPairs is an interesting example because they made 3 games before Palworld.

It's also amusing to think they were fearful of facing bankruptcy when some of the designs seem like they're just baiting Nintendo to sue them.

Lol

They faced a high risk on two ends. One, the money side which would have basically ended them if Palworld failed.

And two, Nintendo. Which they are currently still in a lawsuit with.

I think part of why they did succeeded, is because of Nintendo bringing attention to them. So, a lot protest purchased the game, and ended up liking it.