Probably the most depressing thing about all of this is that, in the cutthroat, streamlined, standardized industry that we've created, going Indie starts to have more risks than it's worth, and creativity is being stifled as all hell.
As games take budgets exceed millions, then tens of millions, it's somewhat understandable to see why big budget companies like Activision and EA are afraid of pursuing new IPs, when expanding on old ones or farming old ones (World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, etc.) tends to rake in more of a profit due to their name and familiarity with gamers than new titles (Catherine, Brutal Legend, etc.).
As that's gone on, people have just started genre farming, and that's also why we see so many cut-and-paste shooters, MMOs, and sometimes the occasional Action-RPG.
Probably the most depressing thing is that, as games get more and more expensive and time-consuming to make, and pose more of a financial risk to the company, this isn't going to end. Ever. Everyone can hope for a bright light at the end of a tunnel; a metaphorical Good End where the big boys can get their money and the developers can make whatever the hell they want, but as long as new IPs can't seem to gain support to land it up with a net profit, along with games having movie budgets and higher, it's not happening.
And no offense, but I'm starting to think that Indie games may also suffer this same fate, what with companies like Zynga showing great success with their methods. It really does look like innovation, originality, and simple, plain fun, died with the third-or-so year of the seventh generation and it isn't coming back any time soon.
Sounds like I need to call up the printers about some postcardage!
