How is this AAA game developer VS indie game developer thing going to end?

1. Indie company makes cool game(s).
2. Indie company gets noticed.
3. Big company buys out indie company.
4. “Indie” company makes meh games.
5. Players complain and blame big company.
6. Repeat.

@Nimis You just described EA.

Always newer/desperate minds working their way up, eventually joining the larger more successful company. Business 101: Black Hole Model

The game industry has the same problem that Hollywood has:
Because AAA games cost so much to develop, they develop games that sell, not games that are necessarily good.
See: Halo, COD, BF, etc.

Look at Shadowrun Returns to see how it pans out.

The short version; FASA made Shadowrun, went under, and the video game rights went to Microsoft while the book rights went elsewhere. Microsoft squandered the Mechwarrior license, and what they did to Shadowrun enraged SR purists. A small indy company headed by the guy who created SR for FASA made a deal with Microsoft for the license to make SR Returns, went on Kickstarter asking for $400k, got almost $2m, and made something that impressed the critics and SR fans.

I think the 20+ year saga of SR is illustrative.

Does a game being an indie game automatically ensure fun mechanics and good gameplay? Does a game being a “AAA” title preclude it from having fun mechanics and good gameplay? Are indie games really bringing anything new to the table? Or are they simply reviving old mechanics and styles that haven’t really been used in so long that they seem fresh again?

As an aside, is there some rule that indie game developers have to be pretentious asshats? (I’m looking at you Jonathan Blow and Phil Fish.)

I still like tabletop games, text adventures, and I still think the Nintendo 64 game 007 Goldeneye is the most goddamn entertaining first person shooter ever made.

As long as Nintendo keeps cranking out Zelda games on a regular basis, I’ll be happy. Otherwise, I’m pretty much over console gaming.

I think the gaming industry is way too big now for indies to take over, but they definitely have their niche. They’re here to stay, but they will always loom in the shadows of the AAA games.

However I disagree that all AAA games lack personality. Many do, especially a lot of the FPS’s that come out filled with bugs and glitches, but there are other big games like Assassin’s Creed that really try. but they should try to implement some better controls if you ask me

But even if it’s a big industry, the gamers decide themselves what they want, so since so many people buy a console just to play fucking zombie mode on Call, we’ll always have AAA games. But there are enough gamers out there that want something different, and will go for indies. Hotline Miami did damn well, especially considering that it’s a homage to 8 bit gaming. I mean, I could be like; seriously, I own a PS3 and HDTV to play THIS?

…but it rocks, man.

Third parties will always be there to stay as long as there’s gaming, and as I recall from the days of Snes, this has always been the case, anyways. Hell, with the release of the PS4, two games in the launch were indies. That’s actually saying a lot. Take it as you will though, but AAA titles are pretty much what keeps the industry going. Although it would be interesting to see how gaming would actually fare if all you were allowed to play was Call of Duty and Uncharted…