Palworld dev says the studio still calls itself indie because of its "genuine creative freedom"

Pocketpair’s John Buckley contemplates what makes a studio indie, asserting that the most important factor is its level of creative control. Palworld might have reached a whopping 40 million players this year, but developer Pocketpair still thinks of itself as an indie studio. It's a term that's become increasingly difficult to parse in recent years, gradually growing less and less defined. Does a small developer backed by a major publisher, like Expedition 33's Sandfall Interactive, count? What about a small subsidiary of a bigger company, such as Dave the Diver's Mintrocket?