http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/167805/Indie_developers_earned_much_more_in_2011.php

U.S. independent game developers working by themselves or in teams earned a lot more money last year, according to Game Developer's 2011 Game Industry Salary Survey.

While salaries remained virtually flat for the mainstream U.S. game industry last year, individual indie developers more than doubled their average earning from $11,379 in 2010 to $23,549 in 2011.

I don't know what to make of this. I mean, yeah the numbers show that the field is waking up, but is this because of the indie bundles? Steam sponsorship? Individual sales? (doubt it)

It means it might not have to be a part time "hobby" for some of them soon. They won't need their day jobs anymore.

In the U.S. at least, no programmer will be quitting their dayjob to make $23k.

See, Steam is destroying indie gaming!

I was thinking the same thing, there are plenty of Cambodian programmers who earn about that doing simple SQL database work.

The average is misleading. According to the article 48% of the indies earned under $500, which means that the average for the other 50% is around $45K, which is decent enough. 16% made over $60K.

It's also, y'know, likely something these people like to do. Making more money a year might be easier in a more practical job but if you can make doing what you love, I imagine a few would jump at the chance.

As long as you don't need health insurance and aren't beholden to a mortgage payment, spouse, needy children, etc. sure. Not that some people don't manage to "follow their dreams" even under some of these conditions, I'm just kind of tired of people acting like it's all that easy in some cases, in fact in some cases it's downright irresponsible.

Some of the best video games ever made, were done by small companies, just a few people, working on a tiny budget, and in most cases their companies went bankrupt in the late 90's.

I cannot think of a game that is good, that was made on a huge budget by a huge corporation.

You really don't think Mass Effect was good? Or any Interplay games (yes, they were "big" back in the day)? Fallout New Vegas? EA alone is responsible for a lot of games, I'd have a hard time saying none of them could be categorized as not just good, but "outstanding", with a straight face.

Obviously some small titles are awesome, my favorite games of 2011 were all indies, save Arkham City. I'm just griping about the freedom to follow one's dream being perceived as universal, it's not.

I did say, y'know, a few people. That's hardly a term I would describe as "universal."

edit: sorry, wrong thread, i'm confused :?

Interplay games big budget? Interplay a big company? Come on now, surely you don't mean Interplay the developer right? Even as a publisher they weren't big budget.

And no, I thought all the ME games were rubbish, single-player games disguised as RPG's, it's a horrible gameplay experience because it feels utterly like your character is pulled along a linear path, and you get no real control.

They did however make some good titles (Baldur's Gate series) when they were just a small group of people.

Depends on your definition of good. Many people think that the Call of Duty series is great. More people than like any of the game you define as good, I'd bet.