EA/Ubisoft/Activision/etc. used to put out like 50 games per year, and now they put out like 5. This is a result of many things, including ballooning the size of the games that they make, but measurably, they are just making fewer games. That means games you used to enjoy playing no longer get made, whether that’s Burnout or Deus Ex. Companies like Anna Purna, Devolver, TinyBuild, Paradox, and Embracer are rising to meet that middle ground of production value to feed those hungry customers the kinds of things they want but haven’t been served in years.

I find myself gravitating toward indie games a lot more due to the homogeneity in the AAA space. It feels like AAA games are like half storefront half game these days, and their prices are just getting more expensive.

Meanwhile indies and small studios with publishers are pumping out games that take risks, and offer unique experiences, and they’re like $20. I can get three of those and a six pack for the same price as one broken-at-launch AAA game.

As a 38 year old who used to game a lot but stopped about 10 years ago, the steam deck has rekindled my love of gaming. The accessibility it offers, particularly with indie games has been wonderful. The deck is a more open and budget friendly version of the switch (to me at least).

I find triple a games try to do too much, combined with their virtually insatiable hunger for maximizing profit (through dlc, in game micro transactions, loot boxes, etc.) really turns me off of them.

For me it’s more about a couple of things.

1. Is it a pay to win? Buying skins are fine. Guilty Gear is a good example. You get a full game and if you want to support the devs buy some skins. Effect looks not gameplay.

2. Is it shovelware? Lots of indie and AAA games are copies or cash grabs. Steam’s early access is terrible and the store is full shovelware. The console stores have no quality control and put up anything.

3. Does it work as expected or is it playable? I know this more AAA because this year has been hard on them.

I think it’s weird to only look at AAA or indie.

There are genres that each do well in.

For example, some of my most-loved games are roguelikes. In that particular area, I can’t think of anything even approaching an AAA release.

But on the other hand, I also enjoy open-world first-person games like Fallout: New Vegas, and there isn’t much by way of indie titles there. Big asset creation costs that aren’t really practical for small-budget games.

I’m firmly in the indie games camp. There are so many excellent, affordable, unique experiences in the indie world, and I know my money goes directly to individuals who worked hard on the game. Almost all of my favorite games in the last five years are from smaller studios or even individual creators.

I still dabble in AAA titles (looking at you, Tears of the Kingdom) but overall I’m pretty wary of blockbuster games.

Both! I lean toward indie games, but there have been some banger AAA games with TOTK, Elden Ring, FF7 Remake, Persona, etc…

I don’t really care whether a game is indie or AAA. I just see a game that I want to play and looks interesting, and then I’ll play it.

But I will say, that once I had kids and began having limited time to play (or at least limited time to focus on games for more than small chunks of time), I’ve tended to favor AAA games over indie games. Mainly because there are plenty of games out there in the AAA space if you have varied insterest in genres.

In the last six-ish months I’ve played Destiny 2, Diablo IV, LotRO, Elden Ring, Code Vein, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, emulated FFII (still AAA), Lost Odyssey, Diablo 2 Resurrected, Disgaea 5 Complete, Atelier Ryza 2, Pokemon Violet, Skyrim and Vagrant Story. The games that might be considered indie that I’ve spent time on is Hades and SOMA.

There just isn’t a lot of room to fit in other indie games between all of those. And I’m still not even playing all the games I’ve technically purchased in that time period which includes Shin Megami Tensei V and Tales of Vesparia for the Switch.

I’ll occasionally play an AAA game if it’s on sale, but usually I stick with indies. Indie games have the best stories, most unique art styles, and know how to make things challenging but fair.

Indie games nowadays (usually) are what AAA games used to be. Polished, fleshed-out, and actually give a damn. The AAA games of today are rushed clones of past glories in a desperate attempt to grab as much cash from the franchise as possible before it’s driven into the ground.

There’s very little I care about from AAAs. Pretty much just Nintendo really, and only a few of their IPs.

I think what I miss most though is the space that existed in between. Small spinoff projects from large studios. Those mostly flourished on handheld, and when handhelds died so did an entire class of games.

Yeah, over the past couple of years, the amount of AAA games that actually enticed me were very low, and some of the few that I actually got, were actually duds in the long run. I’ve actually experienced a renaissance in my own enjoyment of retro gaming instead, alongside a few select indie titles. I’ve found I’m generally having more fun exploring games that are 10-20 years old now, than anything new. There are so many good games that I did not experience back then, that are still excellent today. Things from the arcade ere, emulation of all the consoles up to the PS2 generation, and some stuff on GoG. There are so many more good games to experience today than what new AAA releases would have you believe.

The only AAA game I am hyped about, is the new ARMORED CORE 6. I am dying to play that and it looks like it’s gonna be great. FromSoftware never misses.