Minecraft's Notch says EA is "methodically destroying" gaming →
Are those studios to “blame” for allowing their stuff to be published by EA? I don’t know and I don’t know if there is even blame to be had here. I can’t really speak to that. My point is simply that if a giant corporation like EA decides to cynically appropriate and piggy-back on the street cred that the “indie” label grants certain games and bundles, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do, and worthy of contempt, if you’re so inclined.
They haven’t “allowed” EA to publish their games: they’ve entered into an agreement with EA because they want EA’s publishing wing to promote and sell their games. This outrage is about marketing: EA is marketing a small group of games they’re publishing as “indie.” But aren’t the companies who make those games (and choosing to publish them through EA) also marketing themselves and their own games as “indie”?
How much of this, in your opinion, is appropriation, and how much is description? If these companies can call themselves “indie” even if their games are being published by EA (which seems fairly cynical to me), then why shouldn’t EA describe them as such?
(via discovergames)
