indie games didn’t even exist indie games did not have to exist. indie game level of passion for the game you are creating was generally the norm back then. once the process is turned into an industrial pipeline you sacrifice aesthetics for output volume.

Have video games gotten worse overall? On average yes. What percentage of the games being produced now can you say is on par with what you would call a creative and good game “back then”. We are basically swimming in a sea of garbage and indie games are a reaction to that. That can not, not be a problem but it also does not mean good games still don’t exist.