People occasionally wonder why I'm so into indie games these days, even the ugly ones and the pretentiously arty ones and the three-minute-long ones.
It seems to me that that indies are passionate about making games. They don't always have the skill or resources to reach their potential, but you can feel that passion even in something banged together for a 24-hour jam. It's refreshing.
The big studios, or at least the people who call the shots at the big studios, are passionate about making money, and they're not a bit shy about throwing out great gameplay for more money. Every "monetization" decision beyond "here's our game, it costs $umpty" is an exercise in making your game worse on purpose and then charging to bring it back up to baseline. Occasionally, these decisions are made with enough care and subtlety that the overall experience remains almost as good as it could've been...but not usually.
It seems to me that that indies are passionate about making games. They don't always have the skill or resources to reach their potential, but you can feel that passion even in something banged together for a 24-hour jam. It's refreshing.
The big studios, or at least the people who call the shots at the big studios, are passionate about making money, and they're not a bit shy about throwing out great gameplay for more money. Every "monetization" decision beyond "here's our game, it costs $umpty" is an exercise in making your game worse on purpose and then charging to bring it back up to baseline. Occasionally, these decisions are made with enough care and subtlety that the overall experience remains almost as good as it could've been...but not usually.