Independent video games (commonly referred to as
indie games) are
video games created by individuals or small teams generally without
video game publisher financial support. Indie games often focus on innovation and rely on
digital distribution. Indie gaming has seen a rise in the latter half of the 2000s decade, primarily due to new online distribution methods and development tools. Some games originated as indie have become very successful financially, such as
Braid,
World of Goo,
Flow, and
Minecraft.