He called them a ”bunch of cynical b*stards.” Notch added that indies are saving the industry, whilst EA are ”methodically destroying it.” Mojang’s indie days are gone, admits Notch.
Steam has an EA Indie Bundle which consists of titles they’ve published from independent developers. Included are DeathSpank, Shank, Gatling Gears and Warp.
Notch isn’t happy and accuses EA of trying to take advantage of the grassroots term which has done much to reenergise the games industry. ”EA releases an ‘indie bundle’? That’s not how that works, EA. Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards,” he twittered.
”Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it,” he continued, adding that Mojang is past indie.
Chipping in was Size Five’s Dan Marshall: ”We’re simply going to have to come up with a NEW word for ‘indie.’ One that’s clearly-defined and THE MAN can’t take away from us.” His tongue-in-cheek continued: ”Let’s gather some indies together for a quick ‘AAA Bundle,’ then we’re square.”
Squid Yes, Not So Octopus developer Rob Fearon defended EA: ”The EA bundle is EA Partners stuff. The studios/people behind the games are indie.” He later added: ”It’s dead easy, don’t worry what is/isn’t indie. Worry whether people/corps are abusive towards you. That’s the important one.”
Halfbrick’s Ryan Langley felt there was little wrong too: ”To be honest I don’t mind the EA Indie Bundle thing at all – I mean, Klei, Vanguard and Hothead are all indie developers who EA published.”
”I mean, would you be pissed if Microsoft made an XBLA Indie Bundle with Braid, Fez, Castle Crashers, Toy Soldiers & Limbo? All Microsoft published,” Langley continued.
The term indie refers to small developers that aren’t owned by publishers, but now it seems it also infers the development team is on the fringe of the industry. After all Minecraft’s Mojang is still independent but their huge success renders them ineligible for the ‘indie’ title anymore.
