Per an excellent article from Shacknews, Xbox Live Arcade may be moving away from playing the ideal platform for indie developers to test their games and more towards a “safer approach” to Live titles:
”Under conditions of anonymity, developers from other studios have indicated to Shacknews similar observations about Xbox Live Arcade’s shift towards a more traditional, less “indie” publishing environment, citing high royalties, steep competition for room on the service, and a priority on safer projects.”
Wow, that’s not depressing (end sarcasm.) Another home run for the businessmen and strike for the creative types. it makes my heart sink, but it is surely an inevitability of an industry that has become more focused on dollars grossed than ever before. I am naturally supportive of indie titles as they have often been brave enough to break new ground, but it seems XBLA may not be the right enviroment for it any more.
Frozen Codebase’s director of design, Norb Rozek, had more to share on the topic:
“I think Xbox Live Arcade has gotten to the point where the dreaded realities of business models are setting in. The wild wild west period is over…things aren’t quite as ‘yee-haw, kick down the doors, let’s going in with our guns blazing’ as you would like to hope. But what the hell, that’s just the way things are, man.”
Lots of ports and generic crowd pleasers to look forward to, I suppose? I guess I better start drinking.
[Via Shacknews]
