Nintendo is a MASSIVE game company, indie game companies could never produce their games the way Nintendo does. What a confounding example you chose from a company that is notably hostile to hobbiests and indie developers.

When Nintendo came out with the wii, they were laughed out of the room by Sony and MS because their games were too simple and graphics lacking... it was a huge success, that is what I meant... plenty of small, indie even, video game studios have and can produce huge hits... more importantly, they do not need to make a kajillion dollars to break even which means their games are not akin to armed robbery

Large game companies can create games that would be impossible for smaller indie studios to make, large game studios can offer employment of a nature that smaller indie game companies simply can’t.

I am not refuting that... I am refuting your claim that not having AAA games means the video game golden age is over... AAA video games have been mostly pain in the last 7 years... we can have tons of fun with no AAA titles

You are saying "If Mercedes Benz collapses, cars are over"... I am saying "there are plenty of other car makers to keep the industry as a whole"

I love indie games, don’t try to take the high road of claiming you have made yourself more pure by only playing indie games as if that was a solution, they are different categories.

Never claimed any of that... simply said I have fun with them and won't miss AAA games

Don’t conflate workplace culture with the basic reality of working at a riskier, smaller company vs. a larger established company with longer and more predictable product development cycles. You wanna start a family while working at a tiny company that could go POOF if only one or two things go wrong.

What AAA Studio are you thinking of? which one has NOT laid off tons of people as soon as their very successful launches cash in?