Microsoft has come under fire before, especially from indie developers like Jonathan Blow, for the amount of restrictions and inflexibility one finds when making games for the Xbox 360. Joining the ranks of the frustrated is Weapon of Choice creator Nathan Fouts, finding himself between a rock and hard place when naming a price for his game.
"... an 800 point game 'must' be a great game," explains Fouts. "Is our game long enough to warrant a 800 point price tag? ... Will gamers compare Community Games to XBLA and not pay as much because there are no leaderboards or Achievements available? ... At what price is it an impulse-buy versus a thought-out purchase? ... Do we price our game for our target market or focus on building a larger fan-base? ... And on and on.
"I think the most frustrating part in pricing has been the quantized price points. Microsoft does not allow for user-defined price points like 799 points or even 100 point increments like 500, 600, 700, etc. For a bigger game like Weapon of Choice, only having two options, one of which is double the first option, makes the decision difficult. I felt like we could have priced the game at 600 points and received no backlash from consumers as they compare our game to other downloadables."
Really, any developer who considers getting into bed with Microsoft, as with any whore, needs to be aware of what diseases might be picked up. Microsoft's rigidity has caused problems in the past and even contributed to the detriment of a game (Unreal Tournament III being a fine example). It's a shame that MS won't be more flexible ... especially since most of the Community Games aren't even worth 200 points.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:42 AM on 11.25.2008
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True dat. I was excited for Community games before, but after I played half the demos of games from the launch, excited no more.
Are there any arcade games priced at 600 points? It seems to me like MS is just keeping the community games in line with the existing standard. I can also see the reasoning behind the "greater than 50 megs = 400 points or more" rule. If they're taking up a certain amount of space/bandwidth on MS's servers, then there should be a minimum price.
Bottom line, don't like the way MS is handling it? Don't develop for the platform.
Though I don't think they should let you price your stuff as specific as 799 points, I do think they should let you choose between 100 point increments. Oh well.
If the game was 600 points, I would still want the achievements.
And as much as I can appreciate the notion of "sticking it to The Man", you don't call The Man a whore when you're relying on him to afford you the opportunity.
How's about you just sell the game for 5 bucks, succeed, then sell your next game for 10 bucks. Problem solved.
Our money + Buying good indie games = More good indie games.
What a concept.