Indie Megabooth

The Indie Megabooth is a section at game expositions, legally incorporated under the name Indie Megacorp, Corp,^[1] dedicated to the display and promotion of indie games. It launched at PAX East 2012^[2] and continued to only appear at PAX events^{[3][4][5][6][7]} before expanding to other shows including the Eurogamer Expo,^[2] Electronic Entertainment Expo,^[8] Game Developers Conference,^[9] and Gamescom.^[10] It was founded by Kelly Wallick, who became the booth's full-time organizer in 2013.^[11][12]

After a brief hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic,^[13] the Indie Megabooth organizers announced their return in 2023.^[14] As of 2024, the Indie Megabooth has not announced what their next event will be.^[14]

According to scholars, the Indie Megabooth has helped to shape video game culture and the industry as a cultural intermediary.^[1]

History

The first Indie Megabooth took place at PAX East in 2012 with 16 developers and 20 games.^[11] That same year, at PAX Prime (now known as PAX West), it held 30 developers and 30 games.^[11] In 2013, its PAX East showing included 50 developers with 62 games.^[11] In only a year, it had more than doubled in size.

Between PAX East 2013 and PAX Prime 2013, the Indie Megabooth organization legally incorporated under the name Indie Megacorp, Corp.^[1] Kelly Wallick left her career as a project manager with Infrared5 to become acting president, secretary, treasurer, and only full-time employee.^[11][1] Eitan Glinert became the vice-president.^[1]

2014 marked the first time the Megabooth took place at a non-PAX event. It showed 15 games at the Game Developers Conference (GDC).^[9] At that time, organizers announced they would make a "concerted effort" to bring the Megabooth to many events moving forward.^[9]

True to their word, the Megabooth took place that same year at Gamescom for its first appearance overseas.^[10]

In 2015, the Indie Megabooth took place at the Eurogamer Expo.^[2] In 2017, it took part in the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).^[8]

The showings at Gamescom, Eurogamer, and E3 were all one-offs, but GDC—along with PAX West and PAX East—became a regular in their lineup.^[15]

In 2017, the Indie Megabooth created and held its own convention in Atlanta called the Indie Megashow.^[16] Along with showing indie video games, the convention included nine local musicians and four art installations from local artists.^[16]

By 2018, the Indie Megabooth received between 200 and 300 submissions for each event.^[1] The organizers would narrow that number down to between 60 and 80 games.^[1]

In 2020, the Indie Megabooth's organizers chose to "sunset" the Indie Megabooth for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[13]

In 2023, Wallick announced that the Indie Megabooth would be returning from its "hibernation."^[17] The announcement was a part of that year's Summer Game Fest during its Day of the Devs segment.^[14] No specific events were stated in its future plans.^[14]

Cultural intermediary

The term cultural intermediary was brought to the forefront by Pierre Bourdieu in his book Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.^[18] He describes cultural intermediaries as "sellers of symbolic goods," "taste makers," and "authorities of legitimation."^[19] The idea of selling symbolic goods could be restated as manipulating culture.^[1]

Academic scholars have commented that the Indie Megabooth fulfills the role of a seller of symbolic goods, a tastemaker, and an authority of legitimation, thus filling the roll of cultural intermediary.^[1] The Indie Megabooth manipulates culture by deciding what games will be showcased at events, which influences what games are popular in the indie video game community.^[1] This is now a main part of the Indie Megabooth's identity: they are experts who play hundreds of new games every year and pick out the most creative and most innovative to show to the public.^[1]