Blitz Games Studio has closed down their 1UP service over the weekend as a result of dirt-cheap mobile apps and the dominance of Steam in the market. 1UP producer Neil Holmes had this to say:
What’s changed is that the market seems to have shifted quite a lot in the way games are sold. Two years ago you could go through all of the portals and you could get business in all [of them]. Now, if you go through Steam you can get good sales, and that’s about it; if you go through anywhere else you’re nowhere.
Yup. So what will IndieCity bring to the table that Steam, Origin, 1UP and countless other platforms cannot offer? IndieCity boasts a very generous 85/15 profit split and will have tons of features including personalized recommendations, peer-to-peer software downloads, achievements and leaderboards.
The feature that has me most excited is called IndieCity Underground, which is being described as a “Pay to Finish” model. It lets developers put up their games before they’re finished, either for free or paid, to get feedback and incorporate a community into their development process. It worked immensely for Minecraft, but can it really succeed as a platform? Only time will tell after IndieCity launches by the end of the summer.
Blitz closes 1UP and pins hopes on IndieCity [Edge]
