Indie gaming articles

This $10 bundle of 100+ DRM-free games means to support laid-off game developers

Why it matters: The video game industry has seen a historic wave of layoffs in recent years, with thousands of workers impacted in the last few weeks alone. To support some of the developers affected, indie game storefront itch.io is collaborating with an industry union to sell a collection of over 100 heavily discounted games.

An indie developer says Steam's refund policy cost his well-reviewed game 55,000 refunds

A four-day Steam freebie turned into $250,000 for an indie game

The takeaway: A recent free-game promotion on Steam is drawing attention to how giving away a title can still generate substantial revenue when there is a clear path to selling additional content. A four-day free giveaway of Graveyard Keeper, a title published by tinyBuild, generated roughly $250,000 in revenue, according to CEO Alex Nichiporchik. Most of that money came afterward, as new players who claimed the free copy went on to purchase downloadable content for the game.

MicroProse's next game is flight simulator Legendary Pilots

"Why make game art at all?" New Blood publisher fears DLSS 5 is replacing artistry with AI

This Quake-style shooter fits in just 64KB

WTF?! While the latest AAA first-person shooters usually require over 100GB of storage space, and even retro-style indie titles consume a gigabyte or two, a solo developer recently released a project that resembles the original Quake but could comfortably fit on an NES cartridge. The creator built most of the development tools himself, including the programming language.

Why $7.99 has become the sweet spot for indie games on Steam

Indie games on Steam are getting cheaper, and the $10 hit is taking over

Too many games, not enough players: the industry's growing challenge

The takeaway: New technology and democratized development tools have supercharged the way games are created and sold. The result? An explosion of creativity like never before. But there's a catch: a marketplace so overcrowded that even the best games struggle to be seen. For players, this is a golden era. For developers and publishers, it's an escalating arms race where only a few titles manage to break through.

Indie studio urges fans to pirate game rather than play Roblox imitation

Stardew Valley is now the highest-rated game on Steam

Why it matters: As a foundational title in the "cozy game" subgenre, Stardew Valley has remained one of the most successful indie games for much of the past decade. With Steam player counts higher than ever over the past year, Eric Barone's pixel art farming simulator now also holds the highest user rating on the platform.

Scammers are stealing indie games and selling them on Steam

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - does it live up to the hype?

Former Ubisoft director, Clair Obscur maker slams AAA dev bloat: "It would've taken 25 years" to make my game

Let's get back to fun: The video game industry has always been unpredictable, but the current trend in triple-A development raises serious concerns about its long-term viability. As costs rise and development processes grow increasingly bloated, many question whether the industry is on the verge of another crash. Recent statements by former Ubisoft creative director Guillaume Broche suggest the situation may be more dire than previously thought.

California fire relief bundle includes Tunic, Octodad, and hundreds of other games for $10

Indie developers say the Game Pass and Epic Games Store gravy train is over

Placid Plastic Duck Simulator is Steam's latest viral hit

Paradox officially allows fans to create Vampire: The Masquerade games

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe gets April 27 launch date

Valve's Next Fest 2022 just kicked off with hundreds of indie titles to try

Epic Games Store is beta testing game self-publishing similar to Steam Direct

Long-awaited pixel art RPG Eastward set for September 16 release on PC, Mac and Switch

Indie marketplace Itch.io will give developers 100 percent of sales revenue on Black Friday

Alt254 is a Zelda-style adventure game that takes minimalist graphics to the extreme