Do we need a new word for Indier-than-Indie?

by Daniel · December 14, 2025

Why did the term indie games come into use in the first place, and how do we cope with the huge shift in its meaning?

To my mind there are two important reasons we divide games into indies and, well, not indies:

Setting Player Expectations

Indie Games - Setting Expectations — Coin Crypt by Greg Lobanov (left) and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive (right)

Labelling a game as indie instantly tells players, hey: this game wasn’t made by Nintendo or Ubisoft. It probably isn’t as expensive, and in most cases also won’t be as polished. By buying this game, you are supporting a small business, not a big publisher. When you play this game, you may be getting something new, innovative and risky that big publishers dare not touch.

The label “Indie” tells players several things about the game before they buy it, setting their expectations. This is a good thing by the way. I’m not saying it sets the expectation that the game will be lower quality than AAA games, but on the whole it will be different to a AAA game.

Better Discovery for Devs Who Need It

The other reason for the label indie is to help those developers who need it most. Why have an indie section on the store? Why do all the major console developers release directs and host physical events showcasing independent developers?

A decade ago, part of the charm of these opportunities for indie developers was that they had no other way to be seen. The developers in question might have no publisher, no marketing budget or simply lack experience. Being able to break onto the front page of Steam or the App Store as an indie was a way to bypass the gatekeepers of the games industry.

Times Have Changed

We can all agree that times have changed. Far from being a way to help the underprivileged beat the gatekeepers, the term “indie” has now evolved to encompass a plethora of projects from the industry’s seasoned and well-connected professionals.

Having a publisher can help you to appear in the top slots in the indie section of major stores. Some of the biggest publishers even run sales describing their in-house teams as Indie developers.

Indie Games - Clair Obscur by Sandfall Interactive — Clair Obscur (again) by Sandfall Interactive

And of course, we’ve just had the spectacle of Clair Obscur winning “Best Indie Game” and “Best Debut Indie Game” at The 2025 Game Awards. A Game with a budget of ten million dollars, aided by a publisher, and worked on by a team of more than 30 people with a wealth of games industry experience and connections.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Clair Obscur deserves all the attention and praise it’s getting. But does it set the right expectations to call it indie? Did it need the discovery boost of being called indie? I’d argue the answer is no to both.

The change in the meaning of the word indie has come too far to go back, though. And there are a whole class of games that don’t feel indie but also deserve a bit more of a lift than triple A. So let’s say they’re allowed to be called indie, give over the label to them… Then we need a new name for the games that feel truly indie don’t we?

Indie Games - 10,000 Game Assets for your indie games

Defining a New Class of Games

When I think of what indie meant back in the day, I realise that there are still loads of great games around now that fit the bill. They aren’t getting much of the attention, because the new class of well-resourced indie games are filling that niche. So how would I define this class of games? Here’s a loose list of criteria:

The game is self-published or gained a publisher later in development, with the bulk of the development cycle funded from other sources.
The core team is relatively small, probably fewer than 10 people. Extra help from contractors is fine.
The team should not be composed mostly of ex-AAA developers with an address book full of industry leaders, or the family member of someone big in the industry.

Why have I chosen those criteria? Think back to the two reasons I gave at the beginning of the article. The point of choosing a new label for this class of games is to set player expectations and provide a welcome boost to developers who need it.

If you have a publisher or lots of great industry contacts, maybe you don’t need that boost. If your core team has lots of members, maybe players should expect more from the game.

Who fits the bill?

Indie Games - Pixross by Kenney — Pixross by Kenney

Off the top of my head, several games fit into this newly defined group. Pocket Watch, or really anything by Sokpop Collective, would. Coin Crypt by Greg Lobanov would, but maybe not some of their publisher-backed newer titles. Kenney’s game Pixross would count. All of these are excellent games well worth your money and attention, but they are clearly a million miles away from Clair Obscur.

To put my morals where my mouth is, here at Chequered Ink the vast majority of our games would count but something like PONG Quest wouldn’t. We make some indie games, but I don’t count PONG Quest as one because the publisher, Atari, was involved from the very beginning.

A New Word For A New Era

Finally, what do we call these games? The games that used to be indie but cannot compete with the A-tier indies of today’s evolving games industry. The honest answer is: I don’t know, but I have a few suggestions that I feel are in the ballpark:

Grassroots Games – because they are developed from the ground-up without influence or funding from a bigger entity.
Bootstrap Games – As in, to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps.
Alternative Games – Like Alternative Rock or Alternative Film, as in “not mainstream”.

I’m not the king of coining new terms, I can think of several pros and cons of these ones I came up with. The point of this article is to start a conversation: Do we need a new word for this category of games and what would it be? Feel free to reply below with your suggestions, or hit us up on social media!