Fight back against sale culture on Indiependence Day

Sales are great for your pockets, but they're also helping make independent game development unsustainable. Let's fight back.

A band of indie developers have come together for an event called Indiependence Day. It isn't a sale in the sense you're used to: every game is fully priced.

Instead of saving money, organisers hope you'll save developers by buying their games at full price and spreading the word about how sale culture has eroded the already shaky financial basis of independent development.

"Although money isn’t the primary motivating factor for a lot of us, if the dynamics of the industry don’t change indie games will become an unsustainable model."

"There are more games coming out than ever before, and games only seem to sell when they’re on sale. Players have been conditioned, through bundles and mega-sales, not to pay full price," organisers wrote.

"Although money isn’t the primary motivating factor for a lot of us, if the dynamics of the industry don’t change, indie games will become an unsustainable model. Indie games have been such a source of creativity and originality over the last 10 years, and we want to keep them going."

The "anti-sale" will be held on July 4 - the US's Independence Day - on the Indiependence Day website. Take a look at the games on offer - you should have heard of most of them.

"If you bought a game on sale and wound up really loving it, perhaps buy a copy at full price and gift it to a friend," organisers wrote.

"Or pick up that game that’s been on your wishlist for a long time. (Steam’s new refund policy makes that a lot less risky!) Whatever your platform of choice, we’d love your support."

Although it's hard to argue with the steep discounts on offer during sales, criticism of sale culture has been growing for several years. I think that a lot of us probably buy games in sales that we might not ever try otherwise, so in that sense they're a good thing, but how often have you seen people say "I want it but I'll wait for the sale"?

Thanks, PC Gamer.