Most gamers have experienced this sensation: anticipation for an upcoming game that promises to be exciting and different, but when released, is a huge flop to their fans. Did the game feel unfinished? Was the gameplay repetitive and boring? This is what is called Triple-A games: in short, big studios in the gaming industry feast more on the customer’s income than the game itself.

The savior to the gaming space is the indie genre, which has made quite a name for itself, with many games becoming hits amongst the fans.

Will indie become the downfall of Triple A?

Let’s get into what Triple-A means for those who have never heard of it: the A does n0t represent an actual word, just a meaning. Triple-A studios can be referred to as high-budget and high-profile games, and in simpler words, the big companies in the gaming industry. Companies like Ubisoft, Blizzard, Techland, Respawn, and Activision are just some of the few examples of gaming studios that might fit the bill: each rakes in high profit and churns out well-beloved games, but lately, many releases have been huge flops for the fans.

One of the biggest recognizable series is “COD” (“Call of Duty”). “Call of Duty” has been the face of first-person shooters ever since its launch. The game became a fav of fans of all ages, and one of the best-selling video games series of all time. With all game’s income combined, the brand has made over $30 billion, becoming one of the richest gaming companies ever.

But why bring this particular game up? The “Call of Duty” series has been a flop ever since “Cold War’s” release: “Call of Duty Vanguard” was a huge flop amongst gamers to the point where the game became almost invisible in the fanbase. The studio’s newest one is “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3” which has critics say it is undercooked and overpriced for what the game has in store. 

It is not just Activision that is facing the crisis: Blizzard Entertainment is notorious for making the worst game in history, “Overwatch 2”. This particular game is a horrible sequel that took out much of what the fans loved in the first game, whilst overpricing all of their skins ($20), ruining the Game of the Year 2016 winner reputation.

“AAA Games are too expensive. The problem of AAA games being too big is directly tied to the problem of being too expensive. This is the product of a vicious cycle that started some time ago: Games need to become bigger to attract more attention and sell more copies. Bigger games need more budget,” a writer for Polydin Games said. (Efforts to identify the author of this piece were unsuccessful.)

With the downfall of Triple-A games, indie games have started to make a name for themselves. The indie market consists of small games created by a single person or a small group – in other words, companies that are not as relevant as the higher-ups. Over the course of recent years, indie genre has exploded in popularity and quality, with games such as “Cuphead”, “Dead Cells”, “Lies of P”, “Hades”, “Ori”, and “the blind forest”, all of which have achieved some sort of award in the gaming industry.

Indies have been a huge success, as they do what Triple-A games do not do, which is actually finish a game (how funny) and not make the player wait months for updates just for the game to be considered “fun.” The perception is that Triple-A creators create for profit instead of passion, while indie creators have the ability to design what they want, adding unique gameplay and stories that seem to have more effort put into the product than AAA game stories.

“While a AAA game has many developers, designers, and leads, they can often end up becoming a muddled mess with too many cooks. Indie games do not suffer from this, and as a result, they don’t have identity crises and usually have a clear game loop that has been well tested at a fundamental level,” Avinash Saravanan, writer for Medium, said.

Indie games deserve way more credit than Triple-A. With unique gameplay, like that found in “Hades” and “Dead Cells”, and very pleasing visuals, as in “Lies of P”, “Cuphead”, and “Ori”, they deserve more recognition than a series like “COD” that gets worse with every release. How embarrassing.

Everyone should give the indie genre a shot: if stressed out about which game to play, interested parties should just take a look on the web, where they will see many different indie games and find a genre that fits their liking. After all, indie games give a way more pleasing experience than those money-grubbing companies.

So, if bored, hop on the game. Who knows? Maybe games in the indie category will actually be worth their time and money – highly likely.