Local, just-for-fun rock bands have 3 to 6 members.
Independent films are made by crews of less than 30. They may also hire a firm to do some marketing for them.
Indie bands working their way around the music scene have 3 to 6 members. They may also hire a firm to do some marketing for them.
AAA games are made by teams of 50 to 100 core employees and maybe 100 more support staff.
Big record label funded bands have 3 to 6 members. They likely have a large support staff to do marketing for them.
--
I think the grandparent post is dead on. Record labels provide resources and services, many of which are no longer rare, expensive, or difficult to obtain. The few things that still are rare, expensive, or difficult to obtain can be easily enumerated (like marketing). Each of those things are available via other channels and without having to give away your intellectual property or compromise your artistic integrity.
The number of members isn't as instructive as the number of man hours that went into the development of the product.
Plants Vs. Zombies (an 'amazing' indie game) apparently took 12 man years of development (and probably at > 40 hr / weeks). That's a lot more effort than most albums, that's for sure. Even if a band takes a few years to put an album together, there's not spending 40/hrs a week in the recording studio for two years.
AAA games have hundreds of man years of development.
When you start talking about long, uninterrupted development cycles, it's very difficult to do that without external funding. A small band can go on tour and play gigs while working on their album - or even have a day job to pay the bills. If you have a day job while working on a game, you're not going to finish (anything non-trivial).
Local, just-for-fun rock bands have 3 to 6 members.
Independent films are made by crews of less than 30. They may also hire a firm to do some marketing for them.
Indie bands working their way around the music scene have 3 to 6 members. They may also hire a firm to do some marketing for them.
AAA games are made by teams of 50 to 100 core employees and maybe 100 more support staff.
Big record label funded bands have 3 to 6 members. They likely have a large support staff to do marketing for them.
--
I think the grandparent post is dead on. Record labels provide resources and services, many of which are no longer rare, expensive, or difficult to obtain. The few things that still are rare, expensive, or difficult to obtain can be easily enumerated (like marketing). Each of those things are available via other channels and without having to give away your intellectual property or compromise your artistic integrity.