that's fine. We can't blame anyone for doing what obviously works. Real innovation in terms of gameplay mechanics and depth will be in the Minecrafts, the Limbos, the Bastions. It will be in Jonathan Blow and his Braid and the indies you will never hear about. Innovation will be in your Ludum Dares and Global Game Jams. It will be something so simple that we'll wonder why nobody has thought of it before. It may not be pretty. It may not sell. It may never even see the light of day, but it will sure as hell exist. It will exist because some stupid dev team of one or two or five, with no hope in the world of ever making it big or competing with your Sony or Bethesda or EA, got together and decided to build something different. &lt;/rant&gt; Share this: As a programmer working on one of these 'rehashes' I agree with your observations. Remember though that there are plenty of rehashes in the indie space as well. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the cluttered indie marketspace. Many independent developers are not making games for the love of making games, but replicating concept for concept what other indie games have already done. Originality can be as much of a problem for independent developers as it is for AAA titles. ttp://liza.id.au Liza This is a great point -- independent games can be just as lacking in origniality and uniqueness as AAA games and the vast