2025 felt especially impressive for independent game developers, however — at least for me. But increasingly, I find that the key difference is that there are now very strong alternatives to what so-called AAA publishers are offering. This year, I found myself spending hundreds of hours with games, quite affirmatively not from AAA publishers. (Image credit: Windows Central | Jez Corden)Another recent example of a big "AAA" game chasing sales to the core game's detriment is Monster Hunter Wilds. But even then, increasingly, indie developers are producing very respectable "AAA"-level graphics on a budget, too.