this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2025
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Baldur's Gate 3 dev says AAA is "perversely fascinated" by indie games, because those devs still understand how to make good ideas that aren't reliant on data (www.gamesradar.com)
submitted 4 days ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 29 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Y'know, from a risk assessment standpoint, you can't be too surprised they over rely on data since AAAs cost so much to make an a flop can lose millions, and sometimes even billions of dollars. Mediocre can still sell, and you and I both know they aren't doing it for art or expression.

I do want to make one other point about survivor bias, though.... there are plenty of crappy indie games, too. We focus a lot on the greats (and trust me, I hunger for the Silksong) but it makes up a pretty small percent in a world where everyone can make something. I sometimes will spin up a random game from regrettable purchases (like, indiegala bundles or those "mystery game" purchases) and some of them are really, truly horrible. I try to give is as much respect as I can, and sometimes I do find a few gems that nobody has played, but like... not every passion project is Undertale, lol.

Although tbh, I like streaming a bad game for friends because they can watch me suffer, haha, so I still appreciate the, uh, effort.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

there are plenty of crappy indie games, too

This is a massive understatement.

There's this fantasy that indie = high quality, but just look through Steam chronologically. 95%-99% of indie games seem to be good ideas that faded into obscurity, buried under the tidal wave of other games, that their creators probably burned out making for little in return. Many are just... not great. But others look like bad rolls of the dice.

Basically zero indies are Stardew Valleys or Rimworlds.

This is the nuance the Baldurs Gate dev is getting it. It's not 'games should develop like indies'; they literally can't afford a 95% flop rate.

But that doesn't mean the metrics they use for decision making aren't massively flawed.

[–] bless@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

So don't spend so much that a bad release will sink you. Spread it out over multiple projects. It's not that hard.