MegaDrive20XX
Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
Hello Games chose to make Joe Danger a PlayStation Network exclusive, apparently because the indie developer lacked faith in Xbox Live Arcade. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the company's Sean Murray spoke at the Develop Conference today, and didn't show much confidence in Microsoft's independent support.
"Why choose PSN? It was the only way we could self-publish," he said. "XBLA is kind of a slaughterhouse for smaller developers. There are games that do amazingly well. But there's two titles released every week and a lot of those are falling in that 25,000 or less category." Murray used his own independent figures, which he noted aren't official. He claims 47% of self-published XBLA titles sold less than 25,000 copies, 23% sold around 100,000 copies, 13% sold 200,000 copies, and 17% sold more than 200,000. Joe Danger sold 50,000 copies on the PSN in the first week alone.
Murray also commented on third-party publishers, saying they aren't usually receptive to creative independent games. "It's not to say publishers are shit, but small studios are amazing in this space," he said. He revealed some publisher feedback for Joe Danger, including making Joe a monkey, and being more interested in games that are "less about fun."
Joe Danger met with critical success and apparent commercial on PlayStation Network. We'll never know how the game would have sold on Xbox Live Arcade, but comments like this point to a perceptual problem. Microsoft's XBLA has been successful, but they may need to take a more active role to court indie developers if this attitude becomes pervasive.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180362
"Why choose PSN? It was the only way we could self-publish," he said. "XBLA is kind of a slaughterhouse for smaller developers. There are games that do amazingly well. But there's two titles released every week and a lot of those are falling in that 25,000 or less category." Murray used his own independent figures, which he noted aren't official. He claims 47% of self-published XBLA titles sold less than 25,000 copies, 23% sold around 100,000 copies, 13% sold 200,000 copies, and 17% sold more than 200,000. Joe Danger sold 50,000 copies on the PSN in the first week alone.
Murray also commented on third-party publishers, saying they aren't usually receptive to creative independent games. "It's not to say publishers are shit, but small studios are amazing in this space," he said. He revealed some publisher feedback for Joe Danger, including making Joe a monkey, and being more interested in games that are "less about fun."
Joe Danger met with critical success and apparent commercial on PlayStation Network. We'll never know how the game would have sold on Xbox Live Arcade, but comments like this point to a perceptual problem. Microsoft's XBLA has been successful, but they may need to take a more active role to court indie developers if this attitude becomes pervasive.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180362