Microsoft changes Indie Games pricing

Why can't people just choose their own price?

I have another suggestion for Microsoft: Make it a tiny bit easier for people to actually find the bloody Indie Games channel. Last night I decided I'd check it out to see if there was anything good on it; I spent maybe five minutes leafing through the menu without managing to actually access it. Maybe I'm an idiot, but this doesn't seem right to me.

I guess all new ones will cost 400 points

That's better, 800 points is far too much for any of the games on the channel.

I think this is a more sensible pricing structure then what they had before. I personally would like a "free" option, but I suppose MS still need to make money and the new 80 msp is sufficeintly low to allow for insta-purchases.

Should also get across to developers that this service is not XBLA, and not really there to make 100 man teams oodles and oodles of cash but a bit of extra pocket money for bedroom coders looking for a big bullet point on their CV.

Mixed news. Great for consumers (I would snap up a number of Indie offerings at those reduced prices, especially at the 80 points mark). Clearly great for those Apple App Store impulses.

Not so great for some of those struggling indies, unless this new pricing vastly increases sales....

Good move I think. Also have a problem with those 'indies' that are complaining that Microsoft isn't supporting them enough, and that they don't make enough money.. Hey, this is a platform that they practically get to use for free, if their game is great, it will standout, but not every amateur out there should expect to get rich just by making a cheap rip-off or semi-interesting little app.

But Microsoft, it's still not clear to me if every country is getting access to this or not. I for one can't find it.

The pricing was wrong before, assuming it'll be right now, and the content is far too hard to find and play with.

Nevertheless, I really can't knock Microsoft - much as I want to - for putting this out there. It's far braver than anything else Nintendo or Sony seem to be doing. Factor out sales from fat housewives and three year olds, and Microsoft really have won this generation for me.

I might buy Cold War Commander at 80 points just for the music.

I can't understand why so many people have trouble finding Community/Indie Games. You go to Game Marketplace and then Community Games. In exactly the same way you find Arcade games.

"I can't understand why so many people have trouble finding Community/Indie Games. You go to Game Marketplace and then Community Games. In exactly the same way you find Arcade games."

This.

As for the promotion side of things, I think Microsoft could head off a lot of criticism in that area simply by making one of the Spotlight panels available for whatever the most popular Indie Game is, or even allow Indie Game developers to buy space on there like any other advertiser.

Mostly, though, I think it's up to the developer to promote themselves. Xbox Live gives you a potentially large consumer base, but it's not up to Microsoft to sell your game on your behalf. Having fifty review copies will certainly help in that regard, but I find it hard to feel too much sympathy for anyone who creates a game and then doesn't make full use of the internet to spread the word. Indie developers managed to generate word of mouth back in the days of C-60 tapes and mail order, so I refuse to believe it's impossible to drum up interest with things like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and message boards freely available.

Too many people seem to have an "If you make it, they will come" mentality.

Putting a cap on prices isn't going to help any indie developers who want to use the service to get their games on the 360. Games that aren't worth 800 points aren't going to be able to be priced that high, and that's great. Games that are worth 800 points, however, are either going to be sold cheaper than desired, split up into multiple parts, or just not sold at all.

Lowering the minimum price is a great idea though, and the news of a ranking system is great provided it is indeed all about rating the quality of whatever's on the service, and not just showing you what people are spending their money on.

Where did the idea come from that Indie Games was just for making some "pocket money" for bedroom coders? There's a big gap between bedroom coders and 100-man studios. Asking for changes to make it a more commercially viable platform is not unreasonable (and I'm glad to see MS is trying to do that).

...still not available in Germany... I wish they'd just let us prove our age and get access to the games.

Forced pricing seems a bit lame, some indies do make games that are worth something.

This is definitely progress.

Now the Indie games need to be easy to spot or stumble upon, for people who don't read these websites.

Understand that there are people who can spend £100s per year on games, who aren't especially 'casual' gamers, but who just do not sit and read magazines and websites in order to learn that the 'Community Games' service exists, where it is on the dash, and what it's all about. It's hilarious that Apple seem to understand this, and generally understand how (normal) people use their hardware & software and that's why the iPhone+iTunes is such a success.

There needs to be a bringing together of different formats, also. It should be possible to submit Windows, Windows Mobile and Zune versions of these games at the same time. This would also help with exposure, as a Windows Mobile / Zune Portal could be launched to allow the browsing of these games while on the move.

It'd be ideal if devs could charge more than 400 if they choose, but only if their game is playable across multiple formats. I'd buy some of these games if I could play them in 5 spare minutes waiting in a queue somewhere, or during a 15 min break at work at my desk, rather than when I sit down on the couch in front of a big TV and sound system to play GTA IV. They can't compete very well for my attention while they're sat on the HDD next to Bioshock, R-Type, Streets of Rage 2 and Outrun Online Arcade.

Next is the browsing of our own game collections. I have a combination of around 140 games and demos on my HDD, and all of the games on there are either games I've not tried yet, games that I like, or games that I've bought. I often scroll through my list of games, and find one that I completely forgot I had on the drive. It's likely that this will happen with such a large collection, but it'd be nicer if browsing our own games was a better experience than just scrolling through a list of text with small icons. Yes - it should be easy to do this via the guide button, but the NXE should let us browse our own games using the 'coverflow' rip-off. This should also give us quick access to the game's blurb and any associated media and downloads.

I'm absolutely positive that there are Comunity Games trials on my HDD that I meant to buy, but off the top of my head I can't even remember the last time I looked at them. Browsing my HDD collection should be as interesting as it is to browse though the game collection on my shelves at home.

The ratings system is long overdue, and the dashboard freezing has severely harmed Indie games in my opinion. It takes so long to reach the button to download anything, that I'm only really gong to wait for the best Arcade games, demos and trailers. I've cancelled out of waiting for the 'download' button to appear on several XBLIG titles. Community games has only been available as long as the delay-prone NXE dashboard.

Fix the dashboard, or the whole service loses money.

edit: Ooops - essay!

Note to self: Get a blog.

Yeah I think a lot of community games just stop selling when they fall off the 'new arrivals' bit. I heard they were bringing in a ratings system, which would help a lot to sort the gems from all the shit that's there.

i feel sorry for dev's, as to make a xbli game it still costs a reasonable amount of money and to have your games price halved without your choice is really harsh

it is just a startup thing though

steam is a better option for indies though i think, you get to choose your own price, and you arent restricted in what tools you use

Hmmm... I wonder which new games are going to be launched at 68p, and how much money the best of them will make in total!?

/is curious...

Bloodhunter, Steam's also relatively closed. Anyone (in the right countries, at least) can publish a game on the Xbox Live Indie channel. If you want to get on Steam, they've got to want you.

On the other hand, the PC is an open channel for anyone to publish on. The appeal of Xbox Live Indie Games (to me at least) is that it's another possible outlet, just as the iPhone and the Mac are other options for indies. Reach people that may otherwise not bother with your game.