There are some blurred lines in the industry around what counts as indie or AAA nowadays. Is it about funding? Or scale? It's a discussion that frequently ripples up, and now someone involved in Palworld has weighed in.

John 'Bucky' Buckley, the head of publishing and communications at Palworld studio Pocketpair, gives his two cents on Twitter, going into how the economics have become "so blurred." He points out, for instance, that Palworld is fully self-funded. Pocketpair has no outside financial influence. Hence, the company believes it is indie by nearly any definition.

But where is the line if someone is taking outside money – often a necessity to get the project off the ground to begin with? "For me, creative independence is probably the most important factor. If a studio has genuine creative freedom, then I think it’s fair to consider them independent," he writes.

We consider ourselves indie because we have zero outside investment or backing. …comments will quickly say “if you’re over X people then you aren’t Indie” but, I don’t think it can be clearly defined anymore. For me, creative independence is probably the most important factor. Even then, plenty of studios receive external funding while retaining complete creative control. If you’d rather call us iii or AA, that’s fine too! Ultimately, it’s just a label and all that really matters is that we’re still making fun games.

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