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There are a lot of ways we try to define video games. We got RPGs, which themselves come in a variety of subgenres. There are action games, platformer games, and action-platformer games, and first-person and third-person shooters, depending on how into the action you want to put yourself. But if there is one thing that games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Dispatch have proven, it is that the line between indie games and AAA studio games is becoming more blurred every year. 

It didn’t surprise anyone when Clair Obscur walked away with pretty much every trophy at The Game Awards 2025. The big debate wasn’t around whether it deserved to be everyone’s winner and one of the most talked-about games of the year. No, the big debate seemed to be whether it was really an indie game, which is silly because it obviously is.

Sandfall Interactive is, any way you look at it, obviously an indie developer. They’re not owned by a larger company the way that Naughty Dog or BioWare are. The fact that the game was partially funded by a publisher in Kepler Interactive doesn’t change that, and it is a little strange that we’re even having the conversation. The inclusion of a publisher, who helps market and financially support a game, doesn’t change the development cycle of a game any more than Critical Role’s involvement in Dispatch’s development.

We’re in a strange time in the gaming industry. 2025 was a year when indie games absolutely dominated the industry in a way that I can’t remember happening before. It is only right that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 got all the flowers out there, but it has prompted lots of people to try to define what an indie game is. Just like Baldur’s Gate 3, it is a beautifully polished game created by a studio doing things on its own terms.
It used to be that indie games had a look. Get that beautifully retro pixel art out there and do something creative with the gameplay mechanics, and you’re good to go. And, you know what? That still works. Just look at Balatro in 2024. One person can absolutely make a game that takes the whole industry by storm, but that isn’t the way it has to be.

The uncertainty in the gaming industry that we’ve been harping on about for the past year is having the unexpected effect of sending many experienced and talented developers into greener pastures. Sometimes that is leaving the industry entirely, but sometimes that means setting up their own studio to make the game they’ve always wanted to make. Dispatch was made by former Telltale Games developers. Clair Obscur’s Sandfall Interactive was founded by a group of Ubisoft developers who followed their dream of making the most French JRPG of all time. 

Both those games had high budgets with big-name voice actors and incredible graphics that make them feel like a AAA game, but they are undeniably indie games. But what is an indie developer? Square Enix isn’t owned by anyone else, but they have their fingers in pies outside the gaming industry, such as manga publishing. Nintendo is the same way; they are console manufacturers who own multiple game studios themselves while also developing their own, often stellar, games. 

What we’ve been witnessing for the past few years is something of a maturation of the indie game industry, which may prove to be the most important trend out there. There will always be room for those games that are made by one person trying something unheard of and pushing the industry forward, but we’re also seeing the return of mid-sized studios making games that look and feel like AAA fare. Turns out if you give a bunch of really creative people enough money and time to make great art, they will do exactly that.

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

• All upcoming games in 2025 and beyond
• Gamify My Life, our weekly gaming column designed
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