Moore’s Garage Indy

Having worked on an ill-fated indy videogame, I’ve spent some time bouncing around the indy game community. For anyone who’s even remotely considered working on an independent videogame, one molehill stands out like a mountain: Garage Games. And today, BusinessWeek has posted a Next Generation article on the company; where they came from, what they’re all about, and what they try to be within the realm of the niche videogame market. From the article:

“There really isn’t any soul left in a lot of the games out there. Whether they’re sequels or Hollywood IP, there really isn’t any creativity going into these games. This is partly because of the schedules that they have to get done on and the feature lists that they have to hit. Basically, we recognize that these are the forces of the market. These are the economic factors. We say that we want to change the game. Online distribution is one of the solutions.”

Just like the reclusive urban vinyl toy segment and the niche handbag market, indy videogames are a part of a much broader movement; a morphing of the Long Tail/ecoToroid. So besides being fun, there’s good reason to take an interest in both Garage Games and the independent videogame scene. As they go, so goes the future economy.