'Is there an exodus from indie back to AAA?'

Simon Parkin, writing for Gamasutra:

It would be too much of a stretch to imply that, five years after the explosion of indie game development, we’re witnessing a widespread return back to large studio development. It is, however, undeniably true that, for every indie success story, there are scores of independently produced games that have failed to make a mark or to provide, for their creators, a viable new career. And as such, many are returning to more orthodox roles within established studios.

Parkin continues to ship fantastic work.

While game development is certainly it’s own beast, the perspectives in this piece will hit home for anyone who has moved from corporate culture to self-employment or startups. I’m also a fan of Teddy Dief’s (Hyper Light Drifter, Square Enix Montreal) faux three hour meeting:

He keeps a daily faux three-hour meeting in his shared calendar in order to ensure he has time to do “deeper work.”

I strongly recommend Parkin’s 2015 book here.