Opinion: Indie Studios Are Leading Innovation, Not Call of Duty

July 11th, 2012 by Brad Ward

When I say corporate I mean companies like Activision or Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and etc. The studios they own have become a waste of space I feel. While there are some great games that come from them, it’s nothing new. Call of Duty, Assassins Creed are nothing new and they’re really starting to get dull. Sure, they earn they haul in a mother-load of cash after releasing their game but again, it’s still nothing new. Since when do you see innovation or new ideas come out of the corporate industry of gaming? Skyrim was nothing new, it was another Elder Scrolls game. The formulas, the concepts, the stories feel very generic and something we see every time a new game releases.

This is why I love Indie studios. Sure some Indie studios are like the corporate studios, but a lot of them have more room to brainstorm, be creative and innovate because they aren’t under the giant thumb of a publisher. Magicka was an awesome game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. It was something a corporate company had not thought of doing, but it was fun, it was new, it was refreshing to play.

Corporate companies simply don’t like taking risks. They like making what works, but unfortunately getting what works every year eventually gets boring and dull to the point I would rather spend my money on four Indie games instead of one copy of Assassins Creed or Call of Duty. We’re on Modern Warfare 3 now and getting close to Black Ops 2 coming out. Both are essentially the same formulas with a different story and added features to keep you interested.

This is why half of the MMO’s that come out are terrible. They don’t do anything new, they don’t take risks. They follow World of Warcraft because they know that’s what worked and they want to bank off of that. I feel like I have to thank Turbine for working on technology for mounted combat in their new expansion, Riders of Rohan. Not only that, but they’re doing it right, they aren’t making a choppy concept version. I feel like I need to thank the guys making Planetside 2 for their creativity and innovation. Turbine and Sony are both corporate companies, but they have some innovation brewing in their games, half of the independent developers can’t even afford to make an MMO, that takes millions of dollars that they simply don’t have.

There are so many Indie games out there that many don’t even know about. TRAUMA was one, which was excellently designed, creative and thought provoking. Trine, another game by a Indie studio. It was a innovating, it was different then what we see come out in the stores every day. Indie studios like these are leading innovation, except they aren’t seen because everyone is so focused on what comes out of corporate owned studios. Valve did a great job trying to help Indie studios show off their games with Steam. Some upcoming features will even be improving upon that. They’re helping, but we still can’t see all of these new Indie games coming out every day.

Indie studios have room to create, they have room to brainstorm, they have room to create a emotional experience for the player. Corporate studios may feel the same way, but because they’re under the thumb of big publishers and deadlines, they don’t have that chance to do that because the publisher wants to see more money. Activision is a huge example of this. Bobby Kotick, the guy leading it all has never showed any care but for money.

That’s the type of people that are putting a cloud over innovation and creativity.

The Android OS is also encouraging a lot of Indie studio development. Indie studios have floods of apps and games on Google Play while some of the big name publishers have only a few. But because of these floods of apps, some good games are fairly harder to find. That’s why I feature an app I find to be really good everyday of the week.

The upcoming $99 console, the Ouya will also be helping encourage Indie development. It plays like an Xbox 360, except it runs off of the Android OS and will let you play these Android games on your TV screen. Since 80% of the Play Market is made up of Indie studios and developers, how can this not help and even encourage Indie development in this area?

With all that said, I really ask that you’d pick up a few Indie games on Steam or Amazon even. If you haven’t played one before, it really is worth it, some of the things these guys come up with is out of this world and does not get the attention it should have.

Indie studios in general don’t even have the attention they should have.