Speaking as someone who's been a professional game maker for 20+ years, there really is no "big money" in games, whether retail or indie. There's certainly money to be had. Enough money to live comfortably, but the "big $$$" is few and far between.
Besides it's all relative. What's "big" to one person, is pennies to another.
Example: Lets say I made a simple game that took me 4-5 days to make. I sell it on the net and it makes me a whopping $1500 dollars. $1500 for 5 day's (1 week) work. Nice, huh? Well... it's "okay", but nothing for me really to jump up & down about. It's not "big money". As a matter of fact, for me, it would be barely "break even money". (I live in one of the most expensive places to live, "The OC" Southern California, USA). For others, that's "amazing money", it's all relative.
The thing that I find is being in control of your destiny and cutting out as many middlemen as possible is a key to success. In that respect, you're better off being indie/casual. You have a better chance of breaking out, less people telling you how something should be and less hands in your pockets to cut into that profit margin.
BTW, I'd put money that Farm Frenzy has made more money than Tomb Raider Legends. Yeah, Farm Frenzy has probably sold like 10% of what Tomb Raider Legends sold, but Tomb Raider Legends cost at least 20x what Farm Frenzy did to make and then there's manufacture costs, boxes, retail kick backs, marketing, etc.
Besides it's all relative. What's "big" to one person, is pennies to another.
Example: Lets say I made a simple game that took me 4-5 days to make. I sell it on the net and it makes me a whopping $1500 dollars. $1500 for 5 day's (1 week) work. Nice, huh? Well... it's "okay", but nothing for me really to jump up & down about. It's not "big money". As a matter of fact, for me, it would be barely "break even money". (I live in one of the most expensive places to live, "The OC" Southern California, USA). For others, that's "amazing money", it's all relative.
The thing that I find is being in control of your destiny and cutting out as many middlemen as possible is a key to success. In that respect, you're better off being indie/casual. You have a better chance of breaking out, less people telling you how something should be and less hands in your pockets to cut into that profit margin.
BTW, I'd put money that Farm Frenzy has made more money than Tomb Raider Legends. Yeah, Farm Frenzy has probably sold like 10% of what Tomb Raider Legends sold, but Tomb Raider Legends cost at least 20x what Farm Frenzy did to make and then there's manufacture costs, boxes, retail kick backs, marketing, etc.