Palworld publishing boss says 'I haven't really touched so-called AAA titles', adding that they tend to be 'overwhelmingly about graphic quality and fidelity'

When it's not equipping little critters with assault rifles or fending off lawsuits for those critters' resemblance to Pokémon, Palworld studio Pocketpair is stepping in to publish small-scale indies. It's got a host of upcoming games on the docket, such as pixelated fishing game Normal Fishing and the Hollow Knight-esque Never Grave. The studio's publishing manager, John Buckley, said that's no coincidence—indie games are his foremost passion.

As he said in an interview with 4gamer, translated by Gamesradar: "Indie games have so many interesting mechanics and different styles of gameplay … I think AAA titles are overwhelmingly about graphic quality and fidelity, and that's great. But I personally don't have much interest in their gameplay mechanics. On the other hand, recent indie games are incredibly unique, and often include the kind of systems you can't find in other games."

He added that indie games are more or less all he plays: "I play a lot of different indies, even smaller games, but I haven't really touched so-called AAA titles." It's a sentiment of fondness echoed by industry figures like Larian's Michael Douse, who once said that indies lead with their gut and "to lead with your gut has become a lost art."

It's an interesting argument. In a year where a game like Clair Obscur is hoovering up nominations for indie of the year awards, the definition of the term seems increasingly unclear to me, and there are plenty of big budget games which people tend to agree are good games and not just graphical showcases—Elden Ring and Doom Eternal, for example. It seems broadly true that more creative freedom and fewer corporate strings are good things, but by Buckley's own admission, he hasn't played a lot of AAA games.

That said, there's no doubt the indie scene abounds with great ideas you're unlikely to find in a AAA space. Sony or Microsoft aren't likely to dish out a trippy WarioWare-like or "basically Spongebob meets Duke Nukem" anytime soon. As far as I'm concerned, the more videogames, the merrier; at least, until we're all saved by the first "AAAAA" game.