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An indie game or indie video game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams, and typically without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most AAA games. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to a lack of publisher support. The term is analogous to independent music or independent film in those respective mediums.
Indie game development bore out from the same concepts of amateur and hobbyist programming that grew with the introduction of the personal computer and the simple BASIC computer language in the 1970s and 1980s. So-called bedroom coders, particularly in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, made their own games and used mail order to distribute their products; they later shifted to other software distribution methods with the onset of the Internet in the 1990s, such as shareware and other file sharing distribution methods. However, by this time, interest in hobbyist programming had waned due to rising costs of development and competition from video game publishers and home consoles.
The modern take on the indie game scene resulted from a combination of numerous factors in the early 2000s, including technical, economic, and social concepts that made indie games less expensive to make and distribute but more visible to larger audiences and offered non-traditional gameplay from the current mainstream games. A number of indie games at that time became success stories that drove more interest in the area. New industry opportunities have arisen since then, including new digital storefronts, crowdfunding, and other indie funding mechanisms to help new teams get their games off the ground. There are also low-cost and open-source development tools available for smaller teams across all gaming platforms, boutique indie game publishers that leave creative freedom to the developers, and industry recognition of indie games alongside mainstream ones at major game award events.
Around 2015, the increasing number of indie games being published led to fears of an "indiepocalypse", referring to an oversupply of games that would make the entire market unprofitable. Although the market did not collapse, discoverability remains an issue for most indie developers, with many games not being financially profitable. Examples of successful indie games include Cave Story, Braid, Super Meat Boy, Terraria, Fez, Hotline Miami, Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, and Undertale. Other indie games have become multimedia franchises due to their success including Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy's, Cuphead, and Among Us.
Other indie games have been recognized as some of the best games of all time, including Hades and Balatro, while others have established new video game genres, including Slay the Spire and Vampire Survivors.
Indie games generally share certain common characteristics. One method to define an indie game is the nature of independence, which can either be:
Another means to evaluate a game as indie is to examine its development team, with indie games being developed by individuals, small teams, or small independent companies that are often specifically formed for the development of one specific game.; ; ; Typically, indie games are smaller than mainstream titles. Indie game developers are generally not financially backed by video game publishers, who are risk-averse and prefer "big-budget games". Instead, indie game developers usually have smaller budgets, usually sourcing from personal funds or via crowdfunding.; ; ; Being independent, developers do not have controlling interests or creative limitations, and do not require the approval of a publisher, as mainstream game developers usually do. Design decisions are thus also not limited by an allocated budget. Furthermore, smaller team sizes increase individual involvement.
However, this view is not all-encompassing, as there are numerous cases of games where development is not independent of a major publisher but still considered by some people to be indie. Some notable instances of games include:
Yet another angle to evaluate a game as indie is from its innovation, creativity, and artistic experimentation, factors enabled by small teams free of financial and creative oversight. This definition is reflective of an "indie spirit" that is diametrically opposite of the corporate culture of AAA development, and makes a game "indie", where the factors of financial and creative independence make a game "independent". Developers with limited ability to create graphics can rely on gameplay innovation. This often leads to indie games having a retrogaming of the 8-bit and 16-bit generations, with simpler graphics atop the more complex mechanics. Indie games may fall into classic game genres, but new gameplay innovations have been seen. However, being "indie" does not imply that the game focuses on innovation. In fact, many games with the "indie" label can be of poor quality and may not be made for profit.
Jesper Juul, an associate professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts that has studied the video game market, wrote in his book Handmade Pixels that the definition of an indie game is vague, and depends on different subjective considerations. Juul classified three ways games can be considered indie: those that are financially independent of large publishers, those that are aesthetically independent of and significantly different from the mainstream art and visual styles used in AAA games, and those that present cultural ideas that are independent from mainstream games. Juul however wrote that ultimately the labeling of a game as "indie" still can be highly subjective and no single rule helps delineate indie games from non-indie ones.
Games that are not as large as most triple-A games, but are developed by larger independent studios with or without publisher backing and that can apply triple-A design principles and polish due to the experience of the team, have sometimes been called "triple-I" games, reflecting the middle ground between these extremes. Ninja Theory's is considered a prime example of a triple-I game. A further distinction from indie games are those considered double-A ("AA"), tending to be from mid to large-size studios ranging from 50 to 100 team members and larger than typically associated with indie games, that often work under similar practices as triple-A studios but still retain creative control of their titles from a publisher.
Indie games are distinct from open source games. The latter are games which are developed with the intent to release the source code and other assets under an open source license. While many of the same principles used to develop open source games are the same as for indie games, open source games are not developed for commercial gain and instead as a hobbyist pursuit. However, commercial sales are not a requirement for an indie game and such games can be offered as freeware, most notably with Spelunky on its original release and Dwarf Fortress, with the exception of its enhanced visual front-end version while its base version remains free.
Joyce Weisbecker, who considers herself the first indie designer, created several games for the RCA Studio II home console in 1976 as an independent contractor for RCA Corporation.
Many personal computer games written by individuals or two person teams were self-distributed in stores or sold through mail order. Atari, Inc. launched the Atari Program Exchange in 1981 to publish user-written software, including games, for Atari 8-bit computers. Print magazines such as SoftSide, Compute!, and Antic solicited games from hobbyists, written in BASIC or assembly language, to publish as .
In the United Kingdom, early microcomputers such as the ZX Spectrum were popular, launching a range of "bedroom coders" which initiated the UK's video game industry. During this period, the idea that indie games could provide experimental gameplay concepts or demonstrate niche Art film appeal had been established. Many games from the bedroom coders of the United Kingdom, such as Manic Miner (1983), incorporated the quirkiness of British humour and made them highly experimental games. Other games like Alien Garden (1982) showed highly-experimental gameplay. Infocom itself advertised its text-based interactive fiction games by emphasizing their lack of graphics in lieu of the players' imagination, at a time that graphics-heavy action games were commonplace.
There were still significant developments from smaller teams that laid the basis of indie games going forward. Shareware games became a popular means to distribute demos or partially complete games in the 1980s and into the 1990s, where players could purchase the full game from the vendor after trying it. As such demos were generally free to distribute, shareware demo compilations would frequently be included in gaming magazines at that time, providing an easy means for amateur and hobbyist developers to be recognized. The ability to produce numerous copies of games, even if just shareware/demo versions, at a low cost helped to propel the idea as the PC as a gaming platform. At the time, shareware was generally associated with hobbyist programmers, but the releases of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and Doom in 1993 showed the shareware route to be a viable platform for titles from mainstream developers.
There were other shifts in the commercial environment that were seen as drivers for the rise of indie games in the 2000s. Many of the games to be indie games of this period were considered to be the antithesis of mainstream games and which highlighted the independence of how these games were made compared to the collective of mainstream titles. Many of them took a retro-style approach to their design, art, or other factors in development, such as Cave Story in 2004, which proved popular with players. Social and political changes also led to the use of indie games not only for entertainment purposes but to also tell a message related to these factors, something that could not be done in mainstream titles. In comparing indie games to independent film and the state of their respective industries, the indie game's rise was occurring approximately at the same relative time as its market was starting to grow exponentially and be seen as a supporting offshoot of the mainstream works.
Further indie game growth in this period came from the departure of large publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision from their smaller, one-off titles to focus on their larger, more successful properties, leaving the indie game space to provide shorter and more experimental titles as alternatives. Costs of developing AAA games had risen greatly, to an average cost of tens of millions of dollars in 2007–2008 per title, and there was little room for risks in gameplay experimentation. Another driver came from discussions related to whether video games could be seen as an art form; movie critic Roger Ebert postulated in open debates that video games could not be art in 2005 and 2006, leading to developers creating indie games to specifically challenge that notion.
Indie video game development saw a further boost by the use of crowdfunding as a means for indie developers to raise funds to produce a game and to determine the desire for a game, rather than risk time and investment into a game that does not sell well. While video games had used crowdfunding prior to 2012, several large indie game-related projects successfully raised millions of dollars through Kickstarter, and since then, several other similar crowdfunding options for game developers have become available. Crowdfunding eliminated some of the cost risk associated with indie game development, and created more opportunities for indie developers to take chances on new titles. With more indie titles emerging during this period, larger publishers and the industry as a whole started taking notice of indie games as a significant movement within the field. One of the first examples of this was World of Goo (2008), whose developers 2D Boy had tried but failed to gain any publisher support prior to release. On release, the game was recognized at various award events including the Independent Games Festival, leading to publishers that had previously rejected World of Goo to offer to publish it. The success of indie video games on crowdfunding platforms also inspired a wave of indie tabletop role-playing game developers to follow the same business model.
Console manufacturers also helped increase recognition of indie games in this period. By the seventh generation of consoles in 2005, each platform provided online services for players–namely Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection–which included digital game distribution. Following the increased popularity of indie games on computers, these services started publishing them alongside larger releases. The Xbox 360 had launched in 2005 with Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA), a service that included some indie games, though these drew little attention in the first few years. In 2008, Microsoft ran its "XBLA Summer of Arcade" promotion, which included the releases of indie games Braid, Castle Crashers, and alongside two AAA games. While all three indie games had a high number of downloads, Braid received critical acclaim and drew mainstream media recognition for being a game developed by two people. Microsoft continued to follow up on this promotion in the following years, bringing in more games onto XBLA such as Super Meat Boy, Limbo, and Fez. Sony and Nintendo followed suit, encouraging indie developers to bring games onto their platforms. By 2013, all three console manufacturers had established programs that allowed indie developers to apply for low-cost development toolkits and licenses to publish directly onto the console's respective storefronts following approval processes. A number of "boutique" indie game publishers were founded in this period to support funding, technical support, and publishing of indie games across various digital and retail platforms. In 2012, Journey became the first Indie game to win the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year and D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year.
Several other indie games were released during this period to critical and/or commercial success. Minecraft (2011), the best-selling video game of all time as of 2024, was originally released as an indie game before its developer Mojang Studios was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 and brought into Xbox Game Studios. Another indie game, Terraria, was released that same year and has become the eighth best selling video game of all time, as well the highest rated game on Steam as of 2022. Other successful indie games released during this time include The Binding of Isaac (2011), Hotline Miami (2012), Shovel Knight (2014), and Five Nights at Freddy's (2014). (2026). 9781501356438, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781501356438 Hotline Miami inspired many to begin developing games and contributed to the rise in indie game released during this time period, while Shovel Knight and Five Nights at Freddy's spawned successful media franchises, with the latter becoming a cultural phenomenon. Mobile games also became popular with indie developers, with inexpensive development tools and low-barrier storefronts with the App Store and Google Play opening in the late 2000s. In 2012, a documentary, , was created that covers several successful games from this period.
While there has not been any type of collapse of the indie game field since 2015, there are concerns that the market is far too large for many developers to get noticed. Very few selected indie titles get wide coverage in the media, and are typically referred to as "indie darlings". In some cases, indie darlings are identified through consumer reactions that praise the game rather than direct industry influence, leading to further coverage; examples of such games include Celeste and Untitled Goose Game. However, there are also times where the video game media may see a future title as a success and position it as an indie darling before its release, only to have the game fail to make a strong impression on players, such as in the case of No Man's Sky and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine.
Discoverability has become an issue for indie developers as well. With the Steam distribution service allowing any developer to offer their game with minimal cost to them, there are thousands of games being added each year, and developers have come to rely heavily on Steam's discovery tools – methods to tailor catalog pages to customers based on past purchases – to help sell their titles. Mobile app stores have had similar problems with large volumes of offers but poor means for discovery by consumers in the late 2010s. Several indie developers have found it critical to have a good public relations campaign across social media and to interact with the press to make sure a game is noticed early on in its development cycle to get interest and maintain that interest through release, which adds to costs of development.
Several games during this time have still seen success, including games that were referred to as "indie darlings." Some of the most popular indie games from this time were primarily popularized over social media and spawned cultural phenomena, such as Undertale (2015) and Among Us (2018), with the latter being one of the most popular games during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 with half a billion players. A similar example is Lethal Company, which was released into early access in 2023 and was popularized through internet culture, becoming one of the most played games of the year. More commercially successful games from this time include Enter the Gungeon, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and Cuphead.
Like other Japanese fan-created works in other media, doujin games were often built from existing assets and did not receive much respect or interest from consumers, and instead were generally made to be played and shared with other interested players and at conventions. Around 2013, market forces began to shift with the popularity of indie games in the Western regions, bringing more interest to doujin games as legitimate titles. The Tokyo Game Show first offered a special area for doujin games in 2013 with support from Sony Interactive Entertainment who had been a promoter of Western indie games in prior years, and has expanded that since. The distinction between Japanese-developed doujin games and indie games is ambiguous - the use of the term usually refers to if their popularity formed in Western or Eastern markets before the mid-2010s, and if they are made with the aim of selling large copies or just as a passion project; the long-running bullet hell Touhou Project series, developed entirely by one-man independent developer ZUN since 1996, has been called both indie and doujin. Meanwhile, despite being Japanese-developed, Cave Story is primarily referred to as an "indie game" because of its success in the Western market. It is one of the most influential indie games, also contributing to the resurgence of the Metroidvania genre. Doujin games also got a strong interest in Western markets after some English-speaking groups translated various titles with permission for English release, most notably with , the first such doujin to be published on Steam in 2010.
Mikhail Fiadotau, a lecturer in video game studies at Tallinn University, identified three primary distinctions between the established doujin culture and the Western idea of indie games. From a conceptual view, indie games generally promote independence and novelty in thought, while doujin games tend to be ideas shared by a common group of people and tend to not veer from established concepts (such as strong favoritism towards the well-established RPG genre). From a genealogical standpoint, the nature of doujin dates back as far as the 19th century, while the indie phenomena is relatively new. Finally, only until recently, doujin games tended to only be talked about in the same circles as other doujin culture (fan artwork and writing) and rarely mixed with commercial productions, whereas indie games have shared the same stage with AAA games.
Indie teams can arise from many different directions. One common path recently includes student projects, developed as prototypes as part of their coursework, which the students then take into a commercial opportunity after graduating from school. Examples of such games are And Yet It Moves, , Risk of Rain, and Outer Wilds. In some cases, students may drop out of school to pursue the commercial opportunity or for other reasons; Vlambeer's founders, for example, had started to develop a commercial game while still in school and dropped out when the school demanded rights to the game.
Another route for indie development teams comes from experienced developers in the industry who either voluntarily leave to pursue indie projects, typically due to creative burnout from the corporate process, or resulting from termination from the company. Examples of games from such groups include , Papers, Please, Darkest Dungeon, and Gone Home.
Yet another route is simply those with little to no experience in the games industry, although they may have computer-programming skills and experience, and they may come in with ideas and fresh perspectives for games, with ideas that are generally more personable and close to their hearts. These developers are usually self-taught and thus may not have certain disciplines of typical programmers, thereby allowing for more creative freedom and new ideas. However, some may see amateur work less favorably than those that have had experience, whether from school or from the industry, relying on game development toolkits rather than programming languages, and they may associate such titles as amateur or hobbyist. Some such amateur-developed games have found great success. Examples of these include Braid, Super Meat Boy, Dwarf Fortress, and Undertale.
Typically, a starting indie-game studio will be primarily programmers and developers. Art assets including artwork and music may be outsourced to work-for-hire artists and composers.
Prior to 2010, development of indie games on consoles was highly restrictive due to costly access to software development kits (SDKs), typically a version of the console with added debugging features that would cost several thousands of dollars and come with numerous restrictions on its use to prevent trade secrets related to the console from being leaked. Console manufacturers may have also restricted sales of SDKs to only certain developers that met specific criteria, leaving potential indie developers unable to acquire them. When indie games became more popular by 2010, the console manufacturers as well as mobile device operating system providers released special software-based SDKs to build and test games first on personal computers and then on these consoles or mobile devices. These SDKs were still offered at commercial rates to larger developers, but reduced pricing was provided to those who would generally self-publish via digital distribution on the console or mobile device's storefront, such as with the ID@Xbox program or the iOS SDK.
More recently, crowd-funding campaigns, both reward-based and equity-based, have been used to obtain the funds from interested consumers before development begins in earnest. While using crowd-funding for video games took off in 2012, its practice has significantly waned as consumers became wary of campaigns that failed to deliver on promised goods. A successful crowd-funded campaign now typically requires significant development work and costs associated with this before the campaign is launched, in order to demonstrate that the game will likely be completed in a timely manner and draw in funds.
Another mechanism offered through digital distribution is the early access model, in which interested players can buy playable of the game to provide software testing and gameplay feedback. Those consumers become entitled to the full game for free on release, while others may have to pay a higher price for the final game. This can provide funding midway though development, but like with crowd-funding, consumers expect a game that is near completion, so significant development and costs will likely need to have been invested already. Minecraft was considered an indie game during its original development, and was one of the first titles to successfully demonstrate this approach to funding.
More recently, a number of dedicated investor-based indie game funds have been established such as the Indie Fund. Indie developers can submit applications requesting grants from these funds. The money is typically provided as a seed investment to be repaid through game royalties. Several national governments, through their agencies, also have made similar grants available to indie developers.
As the media shifted to higher-capacity formats and with the ability for users to make their own copies of programs, the simple mail order method was threatened since one person could buy the game and then make copies for their friends. The shareware model of distribution emerged in the 1980s accepting that users would likely make copies freely and share these around. The shareware version of the software would be limited, and require payment to the developer to unlock the remaining features. This approach became popular with hobbyist games in the early 1990s, notably with the releases of Wolfenstein 3D and ZZT, "indie" games from fledgling developers id Software and Tim Sweeney (later founder of Epic Games), respectively. Game magazines started to include shareware games on pack-in demo discs with each issue, and as with mail-order, companies arose that provided shareware sampler discs and served to help with shareware payment and redemption processing. Shareware remained a popular form of distribution even with availability of bulletin board systems and the Internet. By the 2000s, indie developers relied on the Internet as their primary distribution means as without a publisher, it was nearly impossible to stock an indie game at retail, the mail order concept having long since died out.
Continued Internet growth led to dedicated video game sites that served as repositories for shareware and other games, indie and mainstream alike, such as GameSpy FilePlanet. A new issue had arisen for larger mainstream games that featured multiplayer elements, in that updates and patches could easily be distributed through these sites but making sure all users were equally informed of the updates was difficult, and without the updates, some players would be unable to participate in multiplayer modes. Valve built the Steam software client originally to serve these updates automatically for their games, but over time, it became a digital storefront that users could also purchase games through. For indie games, Steam started curating third-party titles (including some indies) onto the service by 2005, later adding Steam Greenlight in 2012 that allowed any developer to propose their game for addition onto the service to the userbase, and ultimately replacing Greenlight with Steam Direct in 2017 where any developer can add their game to the service for a small fee.
While Steam remains the largest digital storefront for personal computer distribution, a number of other storefronts have since opened. For example, Itch.io, established in 2013, has been more focused on serving indie games over mainstream ones, providing the developers with store pages and other tools to help with marketing. Other services act more as digital retailers, giving tools to the indie developer to be able to accept and redeem online purchases and distribute the game, such as Humble Bundle, but otherwise leaving the marketing to the developer.
On consoles, the distribution of an indie game is handled by the console's game store, once the developer has been approved by the console manufacturer. Similarly, for mobile games, the distribution of the game is handled by the app store provider once the developer has been approved to release apps on that type of device. In either case, all aspects of payment, redemption and distribution are handled at the manufacturer/app store provider level.
A recent trend for some of the more popular indies is a limited physical release, typical for console-based versions. The distributor Limited Run Games was formed to produce limited runs of games, most commonly successful indie titles that have a proven following that would have a market for a physical edition. These versions are typically produced as with additional physical products like art books, stickers, and other small items in the game's case. Other such distributors include Super Rare Games, Special Reserve Games, and Strictly Limited Games.
In nearly all cases with digital distribution, the distribution platform takes a revenue cut of each sale with the rest of the sale going to the developer, as a means to pay for the costs of maintaining the digital storefront.
The industry perception towards indie games have also shifted, making the tactics of how to develop and market indie games difficult in contrast to AAA games. In 2008, a developer could earn around 17% of a game's retail price, and around 85% if sold digitally. This can lead to the appearance of more "risky" creative projects. Furthermore, the expansion of social websites has introduced gaming to . Recent years have brought the importance of drawing social media influencers to help promote indie games as well.
There is contention as to how prominent indie video game development is in the video game industry. Most games are not widely known or successful, and mainstream media attention remains with mainstream titles. This can be attributed to a lack of marketing for indie games, but indie games can be targeted at .
Industry recognition of indie games through awards has grown significantly over time. The Independent Games Festival was established in 1998 to recognize the best of indie games, and since its first event in 1999 has been held in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference in the first part of each year alongside the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). However, it was not until 2010 when indie games were seen as similar competition to major gaming awards, with the 2010 GDCA recognizing games like Limbo, Minecraft, and Super Meat Boy among AAA titles. Since then, indie games have frequently been included in award nominations alongside AAA games in the major awards events like the GDCA, the D.I.C.E. Awards, The Game Awards, and the BAFTA Video Games Awards. Indie games like What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, Untitled Goose Game, Hades, Inscryption, and Vampire Survivors have been awarded various Game of the Year awards.
Indie game developers can be involved with various indie game Trade Shows, such as Independent Games Festival, held alongside the Game Developers Conference, and IndieCade held prior to the annual E3 convention. The Indie Megabooth was established in 2012 as a large showcase at various trade shows to allow indie developers to show off their titles. These events act as intermediaries between indie developers and the larger industry, as they allow for indie developers to connect with larger developers and publishers for business opportunities, as well as to get word of their games out to the press prior to release.
, including Ludum Dare, the Indie Game Jam, the Nordic Game Jam, and the Global Game Jam, are typically annual competitions in which game developers are given a theme, concept and/or specific requirements and given a limited amount of time, on the order of a few days, to come up with a game prototype to submit for review and voting by judges, with the potential to win small cash prizes. Companies can also have internal game jams as a means to relieve stress which may generate ideas for future games, as has notably been the case for developer Double Fine and its Amnesia Fortnight game jams. The structure of such jams can influence whether the end games are more experimental or serious, and whether they are to be more playful or more expressive. While many game jam prototypes go no further, some developers have subsequently expanded the prototype into a full release after the game jam into successful indie games, such as Superhot, Super Time Force, Gods Will Be Watching, Hollow Knight, Surgeon Simulator, and Goat Simulator.
The following table lists indie games that have reported total sales over one million copies, based on the last reported sales figures. These results exclude downloaded copies for games that had transitioned to a free-to-play model such as Rocket League, or copies sold after acquisition by a larger publisher and no longer being considered an indie game, such as Minecraft.
| +List of indie games surpassing a million sales | |||||
| Terraria | 60.7 | 2011 | Re-Logic | Re-Logic, 505 Games | As of October 2024 |
| Minecraft | 60 | 2011 | Mojang | Mojang | By October 2014 at the time Mojang was purchased by Microsoft. Minecraft has since sold more than 200 million copies by May 2020. |
| 55 | 2016 | No Brakes Games | Curve Digital | As of January 2025 | |
| Stardew Valley | 41 | 2016 | Eric Barone | Eric Barone, Chucklefish | As of December 2024. ConcernedApe ceased working with Chucklefish in March 2022 |
| Garry's Mod | 25.4 | 2006 | Facepunch Studios | Valve | As of November 2024 |
| Phasmophobia (video game) | 22 | 2020 | Kinetic Games | Kinetic Games | As of February 2025 |
| Castle Crashers | 20 | 2008 | The Behemoth | The Behemoth | As of August 2019 |
| PowerWash Simulator | 17 | 2022 | FuturLab | Square Enix Collective | As of March 2025 |
| Rust | 16 | 2018 | Facepunch Studios | Facepunch Studios | As of December 2023 |
| Hollow Knight | 15 | 2017 | Team Cherry | Team Cherry | As of August 2025 |
| Palworld | 15 | 2024 | Pocketpair | Pocketpair | As of February 2024, still in early access |
| Valheim | 12 | 2021 | Iron Gate Studios | Coffee Stain Publishing | As of September 2023, still in early access |
| Fall Guys | 11 | 2020 | Mediatonic | Devolver Digital | As of December 2020. Includes only sales on personal computers and not consoles, and prior to its acquisition by Epic Games and the conversion of the game to a free to play title in June 2022. |
| Suika Game | 11 | 2021 | Aladdin X | Aladdin X | As of October 2024 |
| Rocket League | 10.5 | 2015 | Psyonix | Psyonix | As of April 2017, and does not include free copies given as part of an early PlayStation Plus promotion. In 2019, Psyonix was acquired by Epic Games and in 2020, the game transitioned to free to play. |
| Lethal Company | 10+ | 2023 | Zeekerss | Zeekerss | As of January 2024, still in early access |
| Dead Cells | 10 | 2018 | Motion Twin | Motion Twin | As of June 2023 |
| No Man's Sky | 10 | 2016 | Hello Games | Hello Games | As of March 2023 |
| Ori and the Blind Forest | 10 | 2015 | Moon Studios | Microsoft Studios | As of March 2024. Combined, Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel has sold over 15 million copies. |
| Peak | 10 | 2025 | Aggro Crab | Landfall Games | As of August 2025. |
| Deep Rock Galactic | 8 | 2020 | Ghost Ship Games | Coffee Stain Publishing | As of January 2024 |
| 7 | 2025 | Team Cherry | Team Cherry | As of December 2025 | |
| Cuphead | 6 | 2017 | Studio MDHR | Studio MDHR | As of July 2020 |
| Satisfactory | 5.5 | 2019 | Coffee Stain Studios | Coffee Stain Publishing | As of January 2024, still in early access |
| Subnautica | 5.2 | 2018 | Unknown Worlds Entertainment | Unknown Worlds Entertainment | As of January 2020, discounting free copies from promotional offers |
| Balatro | 5 | 2024 | LocalThunk | Playstack | As of January 2025 |
| The Binding of Isaac | 5 | 2011 | Edmund McMillen/Nicalis | Edmund McMillen/Nicalis | Includes both the Flash-based version (which sold 3 million alone as of July 2014) and . |
| Papers, Please | 5 | 2013 | 3909 LLC | 3909 LLC | As of August 2023 |
| Slime Rancher | 5 | 2017 | Monomi Park | Monomi Park | As of January 2022 |
| Enter the Gungeon | 5 | 2016 | Dodge Roll | Devolver Digital | As of April 2025 Digital Devolver investor presentation 2024 results. April 15, 2025. p 20. |
| Beat Saber | 4 | 2019 | Beat Games | Beat Games | As of February 2021 |
| Enshrouded | 4 | 2024 | Keen Games | Keen Games | As of May 2025, still in early access |
| Hotline Miami | 4 | 2012 | Dennaton Games | Devolver Digital | As of April 2023, only includes sales for the Steam version. |
| Risk of Rain 2 | 4 | 2020 | Hopoo Games | Gearbox Publishing | As of March 2021, only includes sales for Steam version. |
| Astroneer | 3.7 | 2019 | System Era Softworks | System Era Softworks | As of March 2022 |
| Factorio | 3.5 | 2020 | Wube Software | Wube Software | As of December 2022, includes sales during early access since February 2016. |
| Cult of the Lamb | 3.5 | 2022 | Massive Monster | Devolver Digital | As of January 2024 |
| Among Us | 3.2 | 2018 | Innersloth | Innersloth | As of December 2020, only includes sales for Nintendo Switch version. Game is sold on other platforms but also available as a free app for mobile platforms. |
| Bastion | 3 | 2011 | Supergiant Games | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment/Supergiant Games | As of January 2015 |
| Dave the Diver | 3 | 2023 | Mintrocket | Nexon | As of January 2024 |
| Furi | 3 | 2016 | The Game Bakers | The Game Bakers | As of September 2017 |
| Gris | 3 | 2018 | Nomada Studio | Devolver Digital | As of September 2024 |
| Limbo | 3 | 2010 | Playdead | Playdead | As of June 2013 |
| Risk of Rain | 3 | 2013 | Hopoo Games | Chucklefish | As of April 2019 |
| Sifu | 3 | 2022 | Sloclap | Sloclap | As of February 2024 |
| Shovel Knight | 2.6 | 2014 | Yacht Club Games | Yacht Club Games | As of September 2019 |
| Firewatch | 2.5 | 2016 | Campo Santo | Panic Inc. | As of May 2018 |
| Goat Simulator | 2.5 | 2014 | Coffee Stain Studios | Coffee Stain Studios | As of January 2015 |
| Content Warning | 2.2 | 2024 | Skog, Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen | Landfall Games | As of June 2024, does not include 6.6 million units claimed during the game's free launch |
| Darkest Dungeon | 2 | 2016 | Red Hook Studios | Red Hook Studios | As of April 2020 |
| The Exit 8 | 2 | 2023 | Kotake Create | Kotake Create | As of August 2025 |
| Kerbal Space Program | 2 | 2015 | Squad | Private Division | As of May 2017 |
| Manor Lords | 2 | 2024 | Slavic Magic | Hooded Horse | As of May 2024, achieved within three weeks of early access |
| Outer Wilds | 2 | 2019 | Mobius Digital | Annapurna Interactive | As of August 2021 |
| 2 | 2021 | SouthPAW Games | NEOWIZ | As of December 2023 | |
| Superhot | 2 | 2016 | Superhot Team | Superhot Team | As of May 2019 |
| Super Meat Boy | 2 | 2010 | Team Meat | Team Meat | As of April 2014 |
| BattleBit Remastered | 1.8 | 2023 | SgtOkiDoki, Vilaskis, and TheLiquidHorse | SgtOkiDoki | As of July 2023 |
| Dyson Sphere Program | 1.7 | 2021 | Youthcat Studio | Gamera Game | As of September 2021, still in early access |
| Gorn | 1.5 | 2019 | Free Lives | Devolver Digital | As of April 2025 |
| Slay the Spire | 1.5 | 2017 | MegaCrit | Humble Bundle | As of March 2019 |
| 1.5 | 2011 | Superbrothers, Capybara Games | Capybara Games | As of July 2013 | |
| 1.4 | 2010 | Frictional Games | Frictional Games | As of September 2012 | |
| Magicka | 1.3 | 2011 | Arrowhead Game Studios | Paradox Interactive | As of January 2012 |
| Teardown | 1.1 | 2022 | Tuxedo Labs | Tuxedo Labs | As of March 2023 |
| Brotato | 1 | 2023 | Blobfish | Blobfish | As of March 2023, which includes sales during early access in 2022. |
| Buckshot Roulette | 1 | 2024 | Mike Klubnika | Critical Reflex | As of April 2024 |
| Celeste | 1 | 2018 | Extremely OK Games | Extremely OK Games | As of March 2020 |
| Core Keeper | 1 | 2022 | Pugstorm | Fireshine Games | As of July 2022 |
| 1 | 2024 | Funday Games | Ghost Ship Publishing | As of March 2024 | |
| Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! | 1 | 2021 | Team Salvato | Serenity Forge | As of February 2023 |
| Dredge | 1 | 2023 | Black Salt Games | Team17 | As of October 2023 |
| 1 | 2012 | Humble Hearts | Microsoft Studios | As of March 2014 | |
| Dwarf Fortress | 1 | 2006 | Bay 12 Games | Kitfox Games | As of April 2025 |
| Fez | 1 | 2012 | Polytron Corporation | Trapdoor | As of January 2014 |
| Hades | 1 | 2020 | Supergiant Games | Supergiant Games | As of September 2020. Includes 700,000 sales during an early access period |
| Inscryption | 1 | 2021 | Daniel Mullins Games | Devolver Digital | As of January 2022 |
| Loop Hero | 1 | 2021 | Four Quarters | Devolver Digital | As of December 2021 |
| Moonlighter | 1 | 2018 | Digital Sun | 11 Bit Studios | As of June 2020 |
| Omori | 1 | 2020 | Omocat | Omocat | As of December 2022 |
| Pacific Drive | 1 | 2024 | Ironwood Studios | Kepler Interactive | As of February 2025 |
| Pizza Tower | 1 | 2023 | Tour De Pizza | As of January 2024. | |
| Rimworld | 1 | 2018 | Ludeon Studios | Ludeon Studios | As of August 2020 |
| Spelunky | 1 | 2008 | Mossmouth | Mossmouth | As of March 2016 |
| Spiritfarer | 1 | 2020 | Thunder Lotus Games | Thunder Lotus Games | As of December 2021 |
| The Stanley Parable | 1 | 2013 | Galactic Cafe | Galactic Cafe | As of October 2014 |
| Thomas Was Alone | 1 | 2012 | Mike Bithell | Mike Bithell | As of April 2014 |
| Timberborn | 1 | 2021 | Mechanistry | Mechanistry | As of September 2023 |
| Transistor | 1 | 2014 | Supergiant Games | Supergiant Games | As of December 2015 |
| Undertale | 1 | 2015 | Toby Fox | Toby Fox | As of October 2018 |
| Unpacking | 1 | 2021 | Witch Beam | Humble Games | As of November 2022 |
| Untitled Goose Game | 1 | 2019 | House House | Panic Inc. | As of December 2019 |
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