So WeArePixels is pretty dedicated to the Indie Scene. Maybe it’s because I love the freedom that allows Indie Games to get weird with their stories. Maybe it’s because I’m poor. Probably both.

So Indie titles are small companies or games published without a publisher. Culturally, they’re this aesthetic of funky weirdness that brings some spice to the game table. This is such an established aesthetic that games can be indie passing, and games can be AAA passing depending on how they’re built and what content they contain.

Child of Light on Steam
from steam.com

Child of Light? Not indie—Ubisoft made it.

Path of Exile on Steam
from steam.com

Path of Exile? That’s an indie game.

So, if there’s a culture and a textbook definition, then what exactly are AAA Games?

Think of AAA Companies like the Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks of the gaming industry.  The big guys with all the money that produce pretty looking but usually disappointing games—with a gem here and there in the lot.

These are some of the most popular AAA Companies

Electronic Arts

Activision

Capcom

Microsoft

Sony

Nintendo

Bandai Namco

Square Enix

Ubisoft

Basically, these guys put a lot of money into animation to make their games look really pretty, and more recently all of them have delved into “big open world because bigger = better = more money” along with “make it all multiplayer because single player is dead.” So as of late, at least to me, most of their games have been disappointments. Even Final Fantasy XV—which I really tried to like—eventually fizzled out into boredom because it’s just too big for me.

Usually, these games are gonna be showy—it’s the graphics that sell and sadly it’s the story that takes a toll. And it’s the story that I care about (I’m not bitter. At all.). Dragon Age Inquisition was beautiful but had enough plot holes to be mistaken for a chain link fence. Fallout 76 was literally the worst joke in existence, and don’t get me started with Far Cry 5, also known as: Kidnap Plot Device: The Video Game.

As the new generation of games comes out in good ole 2021, my hope is that these companies listen to the fanbase and what they ask for. We don’t want one kind of game, we want a diversity of them so we have options. And right now, they’re struggling to deliver where indie is flourishing.