Mike Ionita Explains the Rise of Indie Games and Why They are Shaking Up the Market

Today’s video game industry is being influenced by the rise of indie game developers. Indie games like Hades, Among Us, and Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout have made a significant showing in the market and developed strong user bases.

Indie games are becoming popular because gamers are tired of playing multiple variations on the same story. While franchised games are still popular, more gamers are turning to indie offerings to keep themselves entertained and hone their skills.

Mike Ionita describes some of today’s hottest indie games and examines why they have become popular.

Among Us

While Among Us was first released in 2018, it became popular when Twitch streamers started to include it in their game play videos in 2020. Among Us was downloaded a staggering LINK https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/14/how-among-us-became-a-mega-hit-thanks-to-amazon-twitch.html 42 million times on Steam in the first half of September 2020 alone, and it received 84 million downloads on the iOS and Android app stores in the same month.

The game is a multiplayer offering developed by the indie company InnerSloth. It took advantage of a need in the market for more social multiplayer games since people were looking for ways to play games together during the coronavirus pandemic. The game centers around the inclusion of “impostors” in a spaceship crew. The crewmates need to accurately identify the impostors in their group. At the same time, the impostors try to kill the crewmates or sabotage the ship. The game is entertaining and appropriate for a wide age range, making it the perfect game to play with distant friends and family over the Internet.

InnerSloth’s leadership team includes Marcus Bromander, an artist and designer, artist Amy Liu, and programmer Forest Willard. The team had a few false starts like Dig2China, a mobile game that came out in January 2015.

Thanks to special sales on the Steam store and exposure on Twitch, the game has become extremely popular and is making money for InnerSloth.

Hades

Produced by Supergiant Games, an indie company from San Jose, California, Hades is a dungeon crawler game based on Greek mythology. It is known as a “rogue-lite” game that marries fast-paced play with a well-constructed, progressive story. The game is available for PC, mobile, and Nintendo Switch.

Hades has been downloaded over 1 million times as of December 2020. Supergiant Games attributes its success to a large body of players during its Early Access period. The company also produced such popular games as Pyre, Transistor, and Bastion.

The game is set apart from the competition because it combines exciting hack-and-slash gameplay with gorgeous, hand-drawn visuals and a great soundtrack. While it is a single-player game, it has been popular on social platforms like Twitch.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

This party game has also been very popular during the coronavirus pandemic. Players meet up online to compete in a free-for-all combat situation as the rounds become more difficult and intense. This game fulfilled a market need by complementing party games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Party.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was developed by Mediatonic, a growing independent studio based in the UK. The team behind Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout includes the company’s co-founders, Paul Croft and Dave Bailey, who started the company in 2005.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has been ranked as one of the best games of 2020 by multiple publications such as The Verge and The Guardian.

Indie Games Coming in 2021

There are many exciting games planned for 2021. Saturnalia is a horror game set in Sardinia, Italy. She Dreams Elsewhere is an adventure role-playing game that will be available on Mac, PC, Switch, and Xbox.

Other indie games that are in the pipeline for 2021 include Season from Scavengers Studio and Nuts, a wholly different concept based on following squirrels.

Why Indie Games are Making an Impression

The creativity exhibited by indie game developers sets their products apart. Too many games are based on tired concepts or overused properties. Indie game developers may have fewer resources, to begin with, but their creativity and far-reaching thought processes help to create profitable companies. Indie game producers take a significant risk when they start their companies, but if they are lucky, they will create a great deal of value with their properties.

Indie game developers help to fulfill niches that large developers overlook. Their creations entertain growing numbers of gamers and meet challenges with strength and innovation.

Mike Ionita of Crux Game Designs is a successful example of an indie game developer. He produces games for a variety of clients and in varying categories. Companies like Crux Game Designs are leading the way toward a diverse gaming ecosystem.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes