what is an indie game

An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" games. Indie games are created by independent game developers, rather than those who work for large development studios or publishers like Sega and Ubisoft. They are typically built by a single person or a small team of 2 to 10 people from scratch, without the support of publishers. Indie games are a symbol of independence from game standards and daring ideas, and they offer some of the most creative experiences in gaming. The key difference between an AAA game and an indie game is the budget and scale. Indie games tend to have a much smaller budget, more unique mechanics, shorter stories, and more stylized art. The term "indie game" itself is based on similar terms like independent film and independent music, where the concept is often related to self-publishing and independence from major studios or distributors. However, there is no exact, widely accepted definition of what constitutes an "indie game" besides falling well outside the bounds of triple-A video game development by large publishers and development studios.