\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

latest scam in gaming: AAA games pretending to be indie games

...
Transparent corner alpha
  01/20/26
Yeah it’s wild and they pretty much got away with it t...
cowgod
  02/02/26
I’ll grant you all that but E33 had a far lower budget...
OYT and the Indie Reprieve
  02/02/26
are you trying to argue that it's indie? It's not just the &...
cowgod
  02/02/26
Yeah that’s what I don’t get. Can there be &ldqu...
OYT and the Indie Reprieve
  02/03/26
I literally still can't parse what redditors are talking abo...
cowgod
  02/03/26
Yes, gamers as a whole are very embarrassing imo.
OYT and the Indie Reprieve
  02/03/26
I made a thread on this and everyone ignored it first of ...
cowgod
  02/03/26
It’s so funny when they respond to a trailer with &ldq...
OYT and the Indie Reprieve
  02/03/26
I can see why they're like that though. Sometimes these trai...
cowgod
  02/03/26
https://www.reddit.com/r/expedition33/comments/1pn69by/for_e...
cowgod
  02/03/26
Athuanar • 2mo ago It wasn't always ill defined. It ...
OYT and the Indie Reprieve
  02/03/26
Expedition 33 is literally NOTHING. It's just a Game. It's a...
cowgod
  02/03/26
Today I played the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 mobile port and got ...
Junko Enoshima
  02/02/26
if these western faggots were around in the 90s, and would c...
cowgod
  02/02/26
this has been a scam for like 30 years though
exciting white player making game changing play
  02/03/26
Whoa, you're right. Earthworm Jim had the Cachet of an Indie...
cowgod
  02/03/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: January 20th, 2026 4:21 PM
Author: Transparent corner alpha



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49604235)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 2nd, 2026 11:36 AM
Author: cowgod

Yeah it’s wild and they pretty much got away with it too. Marketers hyped up Indies, using Ubisoft as a sacrificial lamb.

Try telling them Expedition 33 is a fake indie and they’re like “30-person team, champ. The State of AAA 😏.” Like what the fuck are they talking about. That’s the same team size as Metroid Prime 1, which also had a Publisher. Just like them. What the fuck. These Losers are just captivated by the narrative and want a Reprieve from the State of AAA.

This is a situation where even if E33 won GOTY and even if it were nominated in the indie category that the voters should’ve just voted for Silksong imho.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49641123)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 2nd, 2026 8:11 PM
Author: OYT and the Indie Reprieve ( )

I’ll grant you all that but E33 had a far lower budget than any AAA game. I think words should mean things imo so I don’t like when people just arbitrarily ascribe “indie” to things that maybe are, maybe aren’t. According to you it should only be used if the dev team is “small” and they all have unkempt beards or something.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49642696)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 2nd, 2026 9:26 PM
Author: cowgod

are you trying to argue that it's indie? It's not just the "budget" or the "size of the team." it has a fuckin' publisher. what a joke. https://i.redd.it/23iahwl8x6hg1.png

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49642835)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 6:43 PM
Author: OYT and the Indie Reprieve ( )

Yeah that’s what I don’t get. Can there be “indie” publishers? What even is indie then? Discuss.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644721)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 7:51 PM
Author: cowgod

I literally still can't parse what redditors are talking about with this.

Expedition 33's publisher is an indie publisher ffs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_Interactive

the same thing exists in Film. Fox Searchlight et al. The Films they distribute are "independently" conceived but for fuck's sake no one's like "The Full Monty, a triumph. Indie Films such as this offer a reprieve. The Descendants, a tour de force. AAA is on notice."

gamers are just cringe af, that's the problem. that's the fundamental problem.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644878)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:07 PM
Author: OYT and the Indie Reprieve ( )

Yes, gamers as a whole are very embarrassing imo.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644927)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:18 PM
Author: cowgod

I made a thread on this and everyone ignored it

first of all, digital has been GREAT for making the "hobby" more accessible. PC gamers figured this out ages ago. There have definitely been times where I went into a gamestop, and was just like, "you know what? fuck this. never again." Just because of the phenotypes.

Second there is all sorts of weird vernacular

Gameplay: This is not a word.

Going Gold: Obsolete ceremony. It referred to pressing physical discs, which barely matters anymore, yet it’s still announced like a rite of passage. Day-one patches immediately invalidate it. Corporate nostalgia masquerading as legitimacy.

AAA: Borrowed from credit ratings, not culture. Or maybe they just started saying AAA because they wanted high scores idk.

Mechanics: Trotted out when “gameplay” has been said too many times, not when anything mechanical is actually being discussed.

Engine: Way overused bc gamers don't understand Engineering. When someone says “the engine does X,” they usually mean “some gameplay system we bolted on in blueprints/Lua/C#.” They aren’t Engineers, they don’t know where the engine boundary actually is, and they use the word because it sounds hard, adult, and infrastructural.

Calling games “Titles”: The most revealing tell. They can’t say game because “gaming” sounds unserious, so they reach for a sterile catalog term. Books have titles, but no one calls them “Titles.” Films have titles, but no one says “I watched three Titles last night.” It’s linguistic shame; trying to sound adult by sanding off the word that actually names the thing.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644964)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:23 PM
Author: OYT and the Indie Reprieve ( )

It’s so funny when they respond to a trailer with “where’s the fuckin Gameplay 😡” even if it is all rendered in-engine and just uses the free camera to frame cinematic moments. If it’s a Western game we already know exactly what the Gameplay is - the Same.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644968)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:33 PM
Author: cowgod

I can see why they're like that though. Sometimes these trailers are total bullshit like Elder Scrolls 6's teaser. Sometimes they're outsourced to random 3d modelers and don't use in-game Assets

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644995)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 7:51 PM
Author: cowgod

https://www.reddit.com/r/expedition33/comments/1pn69by/for_everyone_thats_crying_about_expedition_33_not/

"Balatro had a publisher. Pacific Drive had a publisher. Sifu had a publisher. All these games got nominated for GOTY/Indie GOTY. Guess what. Pacific Drive, Sifu and Expedition 33 were both published by the same company: Kepler Interactive. Yet no one debates if these other games are indie or not. 😏"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644882)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:37 PM
Author: OYT and the Indie Reprieve ( )

Athuanar

2mo ago

It wasn't always ill defined. It was accurate when the term was first coined. The trouble is that the indie scene in games has evolved to become an actual major segment of the industry now, so it's evolved its own compartmentalization with publishing and such.

The meaning of 'indie' has evolved but people are pedants and still try to use the original definition to gatekeep.

😂

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49645003)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:41 PM
Author: cowgod

Expedition 33 is literally NOTHING. It's just a Game. It's an 00s-style western game where the dev is 30 slaves you've never heard of and the publisher is a name you know. they should just say it has "6th gen western vibes."

Actual Indies should have an actual name that addresses the fact that they don't have cutting-edge 3D graphics. A name like "Lo-fi" or something would fit. No one has ever thought of this.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49645008)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 2nd, 2026 8:37 PM
Author: Junko Enoshima

Today I played the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 mobile port and got the light blue Chaos Emerald in the secret special stage after ten or so tries.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49642767)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 2nd, 2026 9:56 PM
Author: cowgod

if these western faggots were around in the 90s, and would call Ecco the Dolphin Indie, despite it being published by Sega.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49642880)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 7:53 PM
Author: exciting white player making game changing play

this has been a scam for like 30 years though

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644884)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 3rd, 2026 8:02 PM
Author: cowgod

Whoa, you're right. Earthworm Jim had the Cachet of an Indie Title but it was ackshually PUBLISHED by Playmates Entertainment.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5824371&forum_id=2#49644911)