Two Australians and a random American are making Glizzy into something bigger, better, and worth fitting in two hands. Do you love indie games? Of course you do! That's why you're here, and that's why they’ve entered the Amazon (heh)  with one of the biggest digital storefronts in the world to give indies and only indies the chance they deserve.

Steam does what it can to try to help push indies to the front of the line. But at the end of the day, Gabe and his super yachts care about one thing: the almighty dollar (or Kangaroo Dollary-doos if you're Australian like the folks from Glizzy). Jack and Lockie, on the other hand, want to see indies get the hype they deserve, and that's why this is happening. Glizzy is going from a simple launcher to something bigger — the first indie-only digital storefront to use limited-time, curated drops as its primary distribution model.

Glizzy Wants Indies To Get Seen. How This Can Help That Dream Become a Reality

I want you to take a look at something really quickly before we continue. Take a look at your Steam library, your GOG library, or any other launcher you may use. How many of these games did you discover organically through social media algorithms versus them being shown directly to you on the home page? If you're anything like me, the answer is going to be a lot of them. I spend far too much time online. Doomscrolling. Watching memes. Finding two wacky Australians with a crazy dream and a passion for gaming that matched my own chaotic energy.

That's why Glizzy is important, and why this makes sense. Glizzy didn't join up with Amazon to look big. They did it so indies didn't have to, and that's where the biggest separation between Glizzy and many other storefronts lies. Rather than tossing your game to the wolves and hoping that viral marketing somehow works or that Steam may be gracious enough to put you somewhere on the Discovery page, Glizzy wants to do that. Yes, the hotdog guys want to help YOU, the developer, rather than just take your registration fee. What a crazy idea, right?

There’s a Reason Why So Many People Love Hot Dogs, and This Is Just Another Reason To Do So

Roughly 50 video games are launched every single day. Read that again. Every. Single. Day. Some games are incredibly lucky and find an excellent distributor who is willing to put every ounce of confidence behind them. Other games launch and catch a wave of viral marketing. But many games are released, finding a few fans before fizzling out. That's what Glizzy doesn't want to see, and why working with Amazon may be the best thing to happen since vertically sliced bread.

Rather than becoming drones to the corporate machine, Amazon is stepping in to be a real, active partner in this situation. Jeffery Bezos HIMSELF will be delivering a bi-monthly or quarterly drop of stellar indie games directly into your email. Okay, okay. Maybe we're exaggerating just a little bit about some of this stuff. Jeff isn't really involved here, but I'm guessing he gets all tingly when we say his name. But the drops of slick indie games? Oh, that's real as hell.

When the Indies Gotta Give It to Ya, We Drop ‘Em Like They’re Hot (Right Into Your Inbox)

The games industry is in a precarious place right now, no doubt about it. Every year, we wait for Geoff Keighley to talk about how rising costs of development, prolonged development cycles, and live service trends bankrupt studios. We wait for anyone to mention how game journalists are being pushed out of the field in pursuit of AI and SEO-trend chasing. But instead, we get 3-minute trailers for roughly $1,000,000. In a world full of Geoffs, we want to be a Glizzy Gobbler, a term that we're going to coin right now for all of our upcoming fans.

Indie discovery, for lack of a better term, is broken beyond belief at the moment. Memorable games, exciting games, and excellent games are often brushed under the carpet, while the latest remaster and remake are given front-page exclusives on digital storefronts. That's not how Glizzy rolls at all, and that's why this makes sense for… well, everybody involved. What better way to help expand the horizons of eager gamers than with curated drops of excellent indies that may otherwise be ignored?

So, How Exactly Is This Gonna Work, Oh, Hotdog Overlords?

Alright, so it's time to get into the nitty-gritty of things. What in the actual H*CK is a curated drop? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like — the Glizzy Guys (patent pending) are going to work directly with developers to curate a list of different games. Imagine what Humble Bundle does, but with certified indie bangers every month instead of one headliner and a bunch of other games. Want a basic idea of what they're thinking? Check this out:

11 games, handpicked by Lockie and Jack themselves. Games like Berserker's Domain, a game that I genuinely loved and had a blast playing, or Temple of Eternal Suffering, a title that is how I typically describe my Friday evenings. These drops are going to happen every couple of months, or once every quarter — they're still working out all of the details on how everything is going to start rolling out to the Glizzy Gladiators.

Glizzy X Amazon Will Hopefully Bring the Light of Indies Into the Lives of Many

Here's the thing I want to reiterate as their little news writer/goblin creature. Glizzy is something I truly believe in, and I think that an Amazon merger is the best thing that could have happened. There are a number of reasons as to why, but some are more important than others, overall. Visibility is the biggest thing, but seeing two folks pour their hearts and souls (or soularidoos, perhaps?) into Glizzy every single day? It’s been inspiring, to say the least. 

I've seen, firsthand, as someone who works in the field of games journalism, how smaller indie games can be misrepresented. How games like Paper Perjury, an excellent Ace Attorney-styled visual novel, don't get the coverage that they deserve. How smaller titles can get swept under the rug, dashing the dreams of the developers and the studios behind them. Glizzy wants to do things differently, and if it takes the power of Amazon to make that happen? More power to them.

Glizzy Isn’t the Savior of Indie Games, but at Least They’re Trying Things Differently

There's likely going to be a lot of time and a lot of background work to make this happen. So details are still a little scarce at the moment. But working with Amazon, in my humble opinion, could be one of the best things to happen to the indie scene in quite some time. I'm holding these two accountable right here, right now — Indies first, or prepare for the 'Wurst.

For any developers interested in learning more, I strongly suggest that you reach out. That's the best way to make your voices heard, after all! Jack and Lockie don't care about profit margins or charging to list your game. They just want to help some of the greatest games ever made find their audience. That's what this is all about, and I'm excited to see where things are going to go from here.