Balatro Dev Urges Fans To Buy More Indie Games As Title Hits 5 Million Units Sold

Some of them can be nice, but I'm simply not a huge indie fan, so...eh.

That's good for them.

Only indie games I have played so far Hades, Balatro and Shantae HGH.

Still waiting to see if there are other indie games that interest me.

THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

Reminder that indie games are not a genre.
They are a publisher status.
Indie games come in a variety of genres (and sub genres), with something for anyone to enjoy.

@anoyonmus If you enjoyed Half-Genie Hero, you’ll probably like Seven Sirens.

Haven't played Balatro, but I support this PSA. Indie games are where it's at these days.

@anoyonmus Try Pirate's Curse, it's way better than Half-Genie Hero.

How should most people know if a game is "independent" or not ?
And what does it mean ?

"Pick up surprising and good titles wherever they come from" is my piece of advice

I intend to pick up Animal Well, very intrigued by it. On my wish list, waiting for a sale.

It will be a tough balance. We want to support indie games, but we also want to declutter the eShop.

Still, it is very nice and humble of him to encourage players to try other indie games. 😊

Most of my physical collection are indie titles. There are some truly amazing games out there

Basically where all the true gems are coming from nowadays.

Make more really good indie games and I will buy them, keep putting out the middling efforts the majority of them are at the moment and I won’t.

I got Cadence of Hyrule (plus all DLC). Does that count?

Geez, I don't get people complaining about indie games' quality. Don't call some shovelware «3-match anime girls' love puzzles» as indie games.
Shovelware = Shovelware.
Indie games = Indie games.
I've started full-on gaming life back in 2017. On Android. I played some typical mobile bs in the past, but it was years ago. But even then, I always preferred and tried to play and download "premium" games:
Reigns, Reigns: Her Majesty, Kingdom New Lands, Downwell, Canabalt HD, Super Hexagon, VVVVV, The Shivah: Kosher Edition, Please, Don't Touch Anything, Wayward Souls, Don't Look Back, Rusty Lake, Surgeon Simulator, Replica, RETSNOM, Retro City Rampage DX+, Star Command, Out There: Ω Edition, Framed, Oh...Sir! The Hollywood Roast, Kathy Rain, Monument Valley, Dropsy, Penarium, and more.
I got a bs laptop one year later, and I've played/beated some other good indie games:
DEADBOLT, Hyper Light Drifter, Not A Hero, FTL: Faster Than Light, Papers, Please, Ape Out, SUPERHOT, Hotline Miami dilogy, Ruiner, Human: Fall Flat, Forager, Katana ZERO, Chasm, Axiom Verge, Door Kickers: Action Squad, The Darkside Detective, The Last Door, and more.
No one forces you to play bs. It's not hard to see differences between good indie games and shovelware, lol. What's the problem, huh?

@Vyacheslav333 right? I just found out about this difficulty some people might have, but that's also Nintendo's fault for letting the shovelware get into the eshop in the first place

@anoyonmus sounds like you have a similar taste as myself, If you want to explore the indie world, I'd reccomend: Celeste, Wargroove, Animal Well, Katana Zero, Bug's Fable, and for some very creative chill game A short hike and Spiritfarer

They’re the future of the industry, honestly. AAA gaming is going to implode and we are eventually going to be left with a handful of live service games and a vibrant indie scene.

I have 418 games on switch but only a handful of them are not indie. I’ve gone too far.

This guy needs to tell me to buy less. My backlog is getting out of control.

My favorite “indie”?

Horace!

Not just my favorite indie but maybe my favorite game on Switch.

I think on Switch I've played more indie games than I would have expected.
I've played Shovel Knight and its expansions and Trine 2 on Wii U. On Switch it's Cuphead (the first digital Switch game I've ever got) and The Delicious Last Course, The Exit 8, Platform 8, Q Remastered, Q2 Humanity, Shape Suitable, Trombone Champ, Suika Game, Analynn, Flipon, Donut Dodo and Traffix.
One day I'll give a go to Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Little Kitty Big City and Balatro itself.

For all intends and purposes, I also consider ganes like the two Yooka-Laylees, Tetris Effect: Connected and Lumines Remastered as indies. If it weren't because SEGA helped with its development and marketing, I'd also consider Sonic Mania as indie, same for Nintendo games like Cadence of Hyrule, Snipperclips, The Stretchers and Good Job! or Square Enix with The Turing Test.

@anoyonmus - Depends on what you are into. If Shantae is a favored one, Decline's Drops is a pretty good one with Smash-inspired mechanics.

If the Balatro team is feeling overly enriched for their efforts they could also invest in some fellow indie devs. That’s another way to spread the wealth maybe. I can think of a couple of unknown devs that would probably welcome an investment

This can’t officially be an Indie game, as it isn’t a Rogue-like Metroidvania.

People saying they don’t like indie games? What does that even mean? You’d like them if the exact same game was made by a large developer?

It’s not a genre, it’s not a quality level, it’s not a content size, it’s not a visual style, it’s not a narrative, it’s not a gameplay mechanic it’s simply who made the game.

Expand your horizons, try new things. And just because you didn’t like indie game A doesn’t mean you won’t like indie game B made by completely different people. Heck you could not like indie game A, B or C but unless they’re direct sequels or the same developer that means nothing towards indie game D! Just like with non-indie games.

You wouldn’t say “I played Call of Duty and didn’t like it so I’m not going to bother with Zelda: Tears if the Kingdom. I’m just not a fan of AAA games”. Because that’s a complete nonsense thing to say. Same applies to indie games.

If he wants me to buy more games he shouldn't have made his so ridiculously addictive!

I'm definitely of the opinion that indie developers are the ones with the brass balls to try new (or new-ish things) and just make games about having fun. Like it used to be in the old days. The scene used to be about developers trying to essentially one up each other, push one another, squeeze as much as they can into a game to create the most fun experience for the player (aka the consumer!). I'm so grateful to have lived through that time period...what a time it was

Some "indie" studios are huge companies and some are 1 man shows. I like his sentiment but just buy what you want. If a big budget company makes a cool game get it, if 1 person makes a cool game get it.

I got this on Android when I was planning to buy it on switch, but it was $5 cheaper on android and honestly I knew I'd want to play touchscreen anyway. This game is addicting. I've read where some people win their very first game but for me it took a lot of tries, but figuring out the strategy made it really enjoyable. If you haven't tried Balatro, I'd highly recommend.

No, don’t buy indie games, buy good games

@Chimichanga There are good indie games.