>someone would make a game to express themselves, it would be picked up by a major studio, it would be expanded and polished until it had mass appeal, and became the next "blockbuster" game.
Warcraft was a big success and Warcraft 2 was a huge success. Both of those games were published by Blizzard themselves. They were purchased by Vivendi a few years later.
I can’t think of a single game where a major studio picked up a small game then expanded and polished it into a blockbuster.
The closest I can think of is maybe DOTA. Where the creator of a mod was hired by valve to make a stand alone game. But that definitely wasn’t normal.
That's just wrong though. "Warcraft" was a "success" but it didn't reach a wide audience. They took on investment money and were able to get each subsequent game to a wider audience. Know anyone investing in indie games in 2025?
>someone would make a game to express themselves, it would be picked up by a major studio, it would be expanded and polished until it had mass appeal, and became the next "blockbuster" game.
Warcraft was a big success and Warcraft 2 was a huge success. Both of those games were published by Blizzard themselves. They were purchased by Vivendi a few years later.
I can’t think of a single game where a major studio picked up a small game then expanded and polished it into a blockbuster.
The closest I can think of is maybe DOTA. Where the creator of a mod was hired by valve to make a stand alone game. But that definitely wasn’t normal.