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.
