Are there indie studios with a goal of moving to AAA?

JordanN · Mar 2015

So the indie scene has been going on for a while now, especially with the explosion of smartphones and Sony/MS/Nintendo opening their platforms to them. This has me wondering, what is their end goal?

I ask this because AAA development itself, has gotten smaller. And the only solution to this, is by growing new studios.

The only studio I can think of right now that fits that description, is Torn Banner Studios.

I'm also aware of the differences between Indie and AAA, and don't expect all Indies to have an interest in pursuing big budget development.

easterislandnick · Mar 2015

I think for a lot of developers on smaller teams the joy of creating and ownership means they won't move back. They didn't set up a studio to grow it huge but to develop games that interest them. I've worked on huge teams and small ones and the small teams hacve always been the most interesting. There is some amazing art coming out of the indies. This whole AAA or bust thing is bullshit. Give me interesting project or bust anyday!

ghaztehschmexeh · Mar 2015

In what sense? Do you mean gain a publisher? Or become successful enough to have the funds to produce AAA quality games?

"Indie" as far as I'm aware would be a developer without a publisher to fund them. Technically, Valve and CCP fit this criteria. And both would be considered AAA companies.

Higuy · Mar 2015

If you mean to produce a AAA - Quality game then sure, I'd imagine most indie studios want to achieve that level of quality... Like ghaztecschmexeh said, Indie is pretty much just anyone without a publisher to fund them, eg funding out of their own pocket so they can do what they want. So yes, there is plenty of "indie" or moreso self publishers that have AAA quality games, Valve is a good example somewhat (but also a huge company with many titles and ALOT of funding) but other small studios like Frictional Games (Amnesia, upcoming Soma) produce very high quality games on their own budget that attracts a wide audience.

I mean also, what clearly constitutes as AAA too? Number of copies sold of the game, or the quality of the game because it has so many people working on it? Becuase both of those could be attirtubted to many indie games that achieve both with extremely small development teams. Eg Fez, Minecraft, Braid, Castle Crashers...

Ged · Mar 2015

As the mobile/tablet industry matures some developers are growing and maturing with it. Look at the quality of top earning tablet games now and the budget companies are spending on those games compared with top earning games that came out 4 years ago and the difference is staggering. It seems like we may be slowly heading in a similar direction to the console game market and eventually a sizeable portion of the small indie companies will fade out leaving the top quality AAA overlord publishers/indie devs to make most of the money.

Snefer · Mar 2015

Well basically all the studios in the world started small... so. Also you have to remember that many of todays small indies are bigger than the AAA-studios from ps2-generation

Skinpop · Mar 2015

Higuy wrote: »

I mean also, what clearly constitutes as AAA too?

Basically AAA refers to big budget. It has nothing to do with quality.

Kel-Shaded · Mar 2015

Snefer wrote: »

Well basically all the studios in the world started small... so. Also you have to remember that many of todays small indies are bigger than the AAA-studios from ps2-generation

Very good point,
Its also good to keep solid the idea that indie just means free of publisher,
It doesn't mean small budget and it doesn't mean unpaid and living with mum.
You can be an indie studio and still work on AAA budgets and salaries, AND MANY DO!!!

Many indie devs want big indie studios split into a different roster really for the sake of lowering the bar,
Whether your running a coffee stand or your taking on starbucks, If your doing it free of a parent, your in the same boat.
One boat may have started sooner, have experienced crew, have more boat hype, or have had several trial boats first,
but both are still coffee boats.

Torch · Mar 2015

dustinbrown wrote: »

I've found that the games I enjoy playing and the games I enjoy working on aren't the same games. I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of sculpting naturalistic anatomy and outfits for the sort of games that require those skills, but most of the games I love playing are usually very stylized and graphically minimalistic.

I can only imagine that it works the other way around. You've probably got developers in indie studios wishing they were working on bigger, more ambitious projects that have more resources behind them.

That's quite interesting and was just thinking about this today, I'm kinda the opposite - play a lot of stuff like the new RE Revelations, Witcher, Dark Souls, but work-wise prefer more stylised art, e.g. Josh Singh, Firstkeeper, etc.

Are there indie studios with a goal of moving to AAA?

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