Independent Games + Case Study

Independent games are more commonly known as “Indie Games”. They are created by individuals or small groups, without the financial support of a publisher. This means that they often rely on Digital Distribution to sell their product, e.g. XBLA, PS:Store and Steam. Indie gaming has become more popular recently because much larger corporations are using digital distribution as well. Meaning that while people are buying a AAA game on XBLA they may notice an indie game and purchase that also.

Indie Games also tend to be considerably cheaper because they do no need to pay publishers and they market on a smaller scale than a AAA game.

Some of the most popular indie games include:

Braid, World of Goo, Minecraft, Angry Birds and Super Meat Boy.

Case Study: Minecraft

Minecraft was developed by Mojang (pronounced, Mo-Hyang). It was the first Indie game ever to make over US$1 Million. Minecraft is ,a Sand-Box game, based in a world similar to lego, where everything is made of blocks, these blocks can be altered re-arranged, joined together and smelted. In the newest update, you can also fight dragons, brew potions and enchant weapons, (because they wanted to cash in on TES:V:Skyrim’s release).

Minecraft gained a lot attention through viral marketing. Upon its release, a large amount of YouTube account holders, “You-Tubers”, made videos about the game which quickly spread word of the game and it’s notoriety increased.

Just as its popularity began to spike a small group of You-Tubers began a Machinima series about the game. This small group then became the Famous “Yogscast”, one of the most popular channels on all of YouTube. This resulted in the game’s profits dramatically rising.

The game’s popularity was so grand that the lead developer at Mojang, Notch, became the first developer to become a millionaire from selling a Beta for a game.

Other small time developers have tried to take advantage of Minecrafts popularity. If you look on the XBLA now, and go to the indie games section, there is high probability that you will see at least 5 games that are similar to Minecraft.

Minecraft currently costs £17.95 on PC, 1600 MSP on XBL:A, ad £4.99 on IOS and Android devices.