Microsoft changes Indie Games pricing
Developers shoehorned into new brackets.
Microsoft has announced that it will introduce new pricing for the Xbox 360's Indie Games channel as of 22nd October.
Developers will have to choose between three price points - 400, 240 and 80 Microsoft Points, which translate to £3.40/€4.80, £2.04/€2.40 and £0.68/€0.96 respectively. 80-MSP games must be under 50MB.
Previously developers could go for 800, 400 or 200 MSP. Anybody selling a game for 800 at the moment can stick to that unless they choose to update their game after 22nd October, in which case they will need to pick a new price.
People in the current 400 MSP bracket can stay where they are, but people whose games sell for 200 MSP will automatically be switched to the 80 MSP bracket.
So, just to be clear, if you decided your game was worth about three-pound-fifty or seven quid, you're fine, but if you felt your game was worth around two quid then actually it was worth 68p. Bad luck.
To be fair, there are some new features in the XNA Game Studio 3.1 update that precedes the re-pricing which indie developers will probably be happy to have, including avatar, party and video playback support, plus a new reputation system and the ability to give away 50 free trial copies - a handy tool for promotion.
Given the volume of criticism directed at Microsoft by indie developers for rubbish marketing among other things, however, we suspect the pricing stuff will attract more attention.
For its part, Microsoft defended the Indie Games channel - previously named the Community Games channel - at Develop this month, arguing it was "poised to break out".