The game industry is much more cutthroat and high stakes than it was a decade ago during the indie explosion.

Many of the indie darlings from that era would be lost in the noise now, and the quality bar expected of even an indie game is insane. Outside of Jonathan Blow and Pope, I struggle to think of game creators that would stand out of the crowd nowadays.

By all measures, I had pretty good success shipping an indie VR game in 2016. Competition was low and our low poly art style was passable because the game had personality to make up for it. I am 100% confident that even a few years later the game would’ve sold 4 digit copies. Even with the success, I still would have made more money as an engineer elsewhere. Of course having successfully “done the indie thing” has a high non-monetary reward that made it worth it for me, but I was also financially well off and could afford that loss.

I’d counsel anyone at this point to find a AA indie team or even go AAA and consider just working on something you have passion for on the side. Drastically less risk if you go that route, as you can quit when you know you “have something”. Or just enjoy throwing your game up on itch or Steam and have fun seeing other people play.