This is a good summary of how the indie devs of yesterday evolve into the AAA developers of today.
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This is a good summary of how the indie devs of yesterday evolve into the AAA developers of today.
Back in the 2000s, the likes of Larian, CD Projekt, and GSC Game World were dismissed as eurojank. No one looked at The Witcher and thought, “This will be the future of gaming.”
And funny enough, two years ago, when I mentioned Divine Divinity as one of the most influential games of the 2000s, most self-identified gamers looked at me as if I were smoking crack. Yet here we are, and Divinity is the most anticipated upcoming title in gaming.
Looking at a more recent example, 10 years ago, David Szymanski was making cheap walking simulators on Steam. Now a movie adaption of his game Iron Lung is one of the most unexpected hits of 2026.
Meanwhile, so many of the AAA studios of the 2000s have been shuttered. Monolith, Human Head, and Volition are all gone. Those that still exist, like Bungie and BioWare, are a shadow of their former selves.
The most shocking example of this? Atari. They were gaming in the 70s and 80s. Also, a major publisher in the 2000s. Where are they now? They’re a small company specializing in remakes and indie titles.
