Why There Are No Hit Indie Games

Slate is running an article on why indie games are still such small potatoes in today's game industry. From the article: "In today's movie business, it's possible for an indie film like Napoleon Dynamite to become a sensation. Saw, which cost a mere $1.2 million, grossed 100 times that amount. That just doesn't happen in video games. The average PlayStation 2 game costs about $8 million. Studios often need large development teams--usually 40 or more people--to meet their tight deadlines. They spend money to license everything from comic book heroes to graphics engines. They record A-list actors. And if they burn their own CDs or do their own marketing, costs can really soar."

No hit indie games?

[DrMrLordX]

I have no idea how large Popcap Games was back when they released it, but Bejeweled was a hit. In fact, a lot of their games have proven to be popular. Obviously they can't be thought of as an indie game studio now. And then there was that old puzzle game before it that was a huge smash hit created by that Pazhitnov guy in Russia . . . what was that again? I forget.

40 ppl

[stew77]

Studios often need large development teams--usually 40 or more people--to meet their tight deadlines.

And Napoleon Dynamite was shot by 3 guys?

Tux Racer

[Andrew Tanenbaum]

End of discussion.

Re:Tux Racer

[Eideewt]

People love penguins?

Re:Tetris

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope you're joking....Tetris. Pazhitnov's Wikipedia page.

Wikipedia? What is that? Some sort of online reference tool?

Thanks for your help!

Re:Tetris

[Anonymous Coward]

of course he wasn't joking. He was only able to recall the name of the inventor (a rather obscure fact) of the most famous puzzle game in history but somehow forgot the much more well know fact that said game was in fact "Tetris".

If it weren't for sharp and astute individuals like yourself who wisely realized it was not a joke, he would have languished forever unable to reacll the name of that game. Thank you kind sir!

The above post was NOT a sarcastic rebuttal.

Re:40 ppl

[magicchex]

HOW DARE HE STEAL MY NAME?!