When a developer that’s created some of the most successful titles in the Xbox LIVE Arcade catalogue criticises the publishing process, you know it’s a concern. Martyn Brown of Team 17, the studio responsible for two successful Worms titles and the upcoming Alien Breed re-incarnation, has told GamesIndustry.biz that opportunities for small developers looking to self-publish their creations on Xbox LIVE are getting slimmer all the time, with Microsoft having set ideas about the kind of games they want offered on the service.
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Brown says that for a while when retail was no longer a viable option, Xbox LIVE had become a very attractive delivery channel for small developers, but over time, the process of getting a game onto XBLA has become “massively” harder. “It’s difficult for any third party, start-up, whatever, to get titles onto Live because there are only so many titles appearing. I know the amount of applications that get sent for Live Arcade is huge, and there’s a finite door there.”
Brown also says that Microsoft is more inclined towards games that are from established IP with a commercial audience. “If you look at the sales charts over the last 18 months, most of it’s been established IP. There are a few new IP in there, but only a few.”
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One of those “few” new IP was probably Braid, and a while back its creator Jonathan Blow too shared similar sentiments, saying that ‘unnecessary XBLA hurdles’ had hurt the game’s overall quality.
But like Microsoft, Brown feels that Sony too has a fixed mindset when it comes to nature of games they would like to offer on the PSN. “Sony tends to like the new stuff, but that’s quite often not the most mass market stuff. If you’ve got something that’s really techy and quirky, then your best bet to get a listen is probably Sony, whereas with Microsoft, you’re really going for the commercial mass market audience – which they’ve had a lot of success with.”
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