Microsoft-Owned Indie Dev Champions Microsoft's Indie Dev Relations
But Press Play is "aware" that Microsoft is moving away from XBLA.
Sony might be grabbing headlines for its indie-friendly attitude with the PlayStation 4, but that doesn't mean that Microsoft has stopped being equally nice to small studios. The developer behind upcoming XBLA title Max: Curse of the Brotherhood has said that the Xbox maker is more than aware of the benefits to courting independents.
Press Play's lead designer Mikkel Thorsted was asked whether he felt that Sony was running away with all the indie developers. "It's something we have a hard time relating to," he said.
"I think people are wrong if they don't think Microsoft are looking into that, and trying to do what they can to adjust to how the market is changing. Of course they are, and it's actually also visible if you look at XBLA - there are free-to-play games, and there are more and more updates. It's a huge organisation, and they might be slow but they're definitely heading in the right direction."
Bear in mind, of course, that Microsoft acquired Copenhagen-based Press Play last year. Of this, Thorsted said, "We're keeping our studio very much as it was, but with the benefit of having Microsoft there. So we're basically as we was, but on the other side we have a lot of resources and insights we didn't have before. Which is a pretty good way to be protected.
"We're in Copenhagen, and our management is in Redmond, so it's pretty loose management in that sense - even though it's definitely there. Basically, we're describing ourselves as a corporate indie studio."
But while Thorsted said that Microsoft is still supporting indies, he admits that there is a feeling that the company is winding down its emphasis on the XBLA platform and, in Eurogamer's words, leaving studios to fend for themselves. "We're kind of expecting to navigate as an indie studio. That way we're trying to do everything ourselves to get the right promotion to get the attention out there.
"Right now we kind of want to take care of that ourselves. And hopefully Microsoft will help make us more visible when it gets out there."
Source: Eurogamer
Press Play's lead designer Mikkel Thorsted was asked whether he felt that Sony was running away with all the indie developers. "It's something we have a hard time relating to," he said.
"I think people are wrong if they don't think Microsoft are looking into that, and trying to do what they can to adjust to how the market is changing. Of course they are, and it's actually also visible if you look at XBLA - there are free-to-play games, and there are more and more updates. It's a huge organisation, and they might be slow but they're definitely heading in the right direction."
Bear in mind, of course, that Microsoft acquired Copenhagen-based Press Play last year. Of this, Thorsted said, "We're keeping our studio very much as it was, but with the benefit of having Microsoft there. So we're basically as we was, but on the other side we have a lot of resources and insights we didn't have before. Which is a pretty good way to be protected.
"We're in Copenhagen, and our management is in Redmond, so it's pretty loose management in that sense - even though it's definitely there. Basically, we're describing ourselves as a corporate indie studio."
But while Thorsted said that Microsoft is still supporting indies, he admits that there is a feeling that the company is winding down its emphasis on the XBLA platform and, in Eurogamer's words, leaving studios to fend for themselves. "We're kind of expecting to navigate as an indie studio. That way we're trying to do everything ourselves to get the right promotion to get the attention out there.
"Right now we kind of want to take care of that ourselves. And hopefully Microsoft will help make us more visible when it gets out there."
Source: Eurogamer
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Comments
DrkStr 24 Apr 2013 12:12
1/1
Owned by a hardware manufacturer means not independent! FFS!