Disagreement. It is hard, yes, but if you approach the game design from the ground up as a business model with potential for built in marketing hooks and virality - even if it isn't a "viral" or "blockbuster" game - the way in which a game can be made is actually straightforward.
What makes it hard is not the creation, so much as untangling your brain from all the nonsense about what makes a game "legitimate." If you go for legitimacy you'll fail off the bat because it is, as you say, a matter of competing with the big guys. But if you are adhering to lean principles throughout, you can get a game business going. It just may not be a "dream game," necessarily.
What makes it hard is not the creation, so much as untangling your brain from all the nonsense about what makes a game "legitimate." If you go for legitimacy you'll fail off the bat because it is, as you say, a matter of competing with the big guys. But if you are adhering to lean principles throughout, you can get a game business going. It just may not be a "dream game," necessarily.