Edmund McMillen: AAA lets indie games take big risks, then the mainstream copies what works and cashes in

“You see a flood of sequels and safe imitators—games that mimic whatever sold before,” he added. “Indies, however, remain largely unaffected; they’re the ones willing to take the big creative risks because their financial exposure is smaller.”

He summed it up like this: “Mainstream publishers will often take what worked for indies, package it more conservatively, and then monetize it heavily.” He punctuated the remark with a winking emoji, and it’s an apt observation.

Consider how the indie title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sparked renewed demand for turn-based systems—urging larger studios such as Square Enix to revisit classic combat designs—rather than the other way around.

Describing his own creative approach, McMillen said he often starts with a feeling or a single mechanical spark, lets it churn in his head until it becomes vivid, and then shapes that impulse into a plan. “An idea turns into a concept, the concept becomes something tangible, and eventually a complete project is born,” he explained—language far more colorful than you’d hear from a big publisher.

The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen says he only made the genre-defining hit to try a “basic roguelike” and “get my feet in the water” before his real magnum opus