Jonathan Blow, creator of quintessential indie game Braid, disowns indie scene

Jonathan Blow, creator of quintessential indie game Braid, disowns indie scene

File this one under the continued diaspora of the indie games scene. Jonathan Blow—star of Indie Game: The Movie and creator of Braid, the standout existential platformer that in many ways exemplifies your stereotypical indie title—says he’s not a part of this whole indie game scene thing.

Interviewing with Gamasutra about his upcoming The Witness, the ever-prickly Blow said:

I’m not really in the “independent gaming scene.” I think a lot of indie developers don’t like me anyway, because I’m very critical…. People probably perceive it in a negative way, but I honestly say what I think about games, and I honestly say if I think something is good or not, and why.

But Blow seems to foster a similar animosity for big corporate game studios.

I don’t want a giant game company. When companies grow big fast, you get a lot of mediocrity and badness. My model is to keep the team very small, and just do a lot.

So where does that leave one of the preeminent “indie” game makers of our time? Well, in the same place as a lot of other preeminent “indie” game makers. Previously, Michael Brough and Lucas Pope have expressed similar anti-indie sentiments. And as we pointed out in a recent PBS Game/Show episode, indie games encompass such a broad range of games and people and mega-corporations that it’s impossible for there to be a common thread.