Indie Games Like 'Balatro' Are Thriving Where AAA Titles Fail

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Balatro, 1000xResist, and Another Crab's Treasure are finding new ways to make development more sustainable

By Hayes Madsen Hayes Madsen View all posts by Hayes Madsen January 11, 2025 '1000xResist' Fellow Traveller Games The video game industry is in the middle of a crisis. Budgets for big releases are ballooning out of control with games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) costing up to $700 million to produce. The developer workforce has also been ravaged, with dozens of studios closing, amounting to over 10,000 layoffs in 2024 alone. Pair that with the fact that many of the titles have flopped - like Concord , whose servers didn’t even last as long as a free trial for Hulu - major

Indie Games Like 'Balatro' Are Thriving Where AAA Titles Fail

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