Woah, I think you're overreacting a bit there! Just like any other entertainment industry, money has entered the gaming industry and it has matured. Mainstream

Woah, I think you're overreacting a bit there! Just like any other entertainment industry, money has entered the gaming industry and it has matured. Mainstream big games cost tens of millions of dollars to make. But there are more cool projects happening on the fringe than ever before, led by small teams of indie and commmercial developers, willing to take on a whole bunch of risk and try new things. Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, Braid and the like basically are the Elites of the 21st century. The most expensive games to produce are basically formulaic safe bets, but that should not take away from your enjoyment of the great games being made every day. In much the same way as the music charts being topped by pop rubbish shouldn't take away from enjoyment of the many great innovative bands with small(er) followings. I think there's a good middle ground, too, which I think creates substantial value. Lots of high quality games take elements from existing successful games, and reshape them to make something fresh (but not innovative). This is basically what I'm attempting to do with my gaming startup (see: http://www.bigblockgames.com http://www.bigblockgames.com). But this approach is inherently cautious - I know it's not going to make me stumble on the next Minecraft!