Jonathan Blow: XBLA a 'Pain in the Ass' for Indie Developers
Money lost can be made back on Steam and iOS.
Braid creator Jonathan Blow is no stranger to speaking his mind - in an interview with Gamasutra, he opines that Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service contains too many hurdles for the indie developer to handle, and that competitors like Steam and iOS offer simpler publishing methods.
Blow is set to launch his upcoming title The Witness on a range of digital distribution platforms, and has been critical of Microsoft's online service in the past. But while he feels that the platform holder "is getting a little softer in their exclusivity," there are still issues to overcome in its certification process.
"I think the thing that they don't understand -- between that and the cert stuff that they do -- they just kind of make themselves a pain in the ass," he said. "For a big game, for a triple-A game that costs 60 bucks, and has a giant budget and all these people working on it, the amount extra that that pain in the ass adds is not that much.
"But if you make an XBLA game, the amount of bullshit that adds is gigantic. It can take a third to a half of the effort required to build your game, in some cases, and I don't think that they understand that. I don't think that they understand that, at least for that size of game, they're competing very heavily with Steam and iOS for developer mindshare."
Luckily, the fact that the game will hit Steam and iOS is reason for Blow to rest easy at night over getting a return on his development costs. He said that with the sales power of Valve's distribution service and Apple's App Store, he doesn't need to sign platform-exclusive contracts with anyone.
"If the goal is to make that $2 million, not only is that kind of a safe target, but because the game's 3D and whatnot, I'm pretty sure we could make that back just off Steam and the iPad safely," he added. "Like, it's not even a gamble to say that."
Source: Gamasutra
Blow is set to launch his upcoming title The Witness on a range of digital distribution platforms, and has been critical of Microsoft's online service in the past. But while he feels that the platform holder "is getting a little softer in their exclusivity," there are still issues to overcome in its certification process.
"I think the thing that they don't understand -- between that and the cert stuff that they do -- they just kind of make themselves a pain in the ass," he said. "For a big game, for a triple-A game that costs 60 bucks, and has a giant budget and all these people working on it, the amount extra that that pain in the ass adds is not that much.
"But if you make an XBLA game, the amount of bullshit that adds is gigantic. It can take a third to a half of the effort required to build your game, in some cases, and I don't think that they understand that. I don't think that they understand that, at least for that size of game, they're competing very heavily with Steam and iOS for developer mindshare."
Luckily, the fact that the game will hit Steam and iOS is reason for Blow to rest easy at night over getting a return on his development costs. He said that with the sales power of Valve's distribution service and Apple's App Store, he doesn't need to sign platform-exclusive contracts with anyone.
"If the goal is to make that $2 million, not only is that kind of a safe target, but because the game's 3D and whatnot, I'm pretty sure we could make that back just off Steam and the iPad safely," he added. "Like, it's not even a gamble to say that."
Source: Gamasutra
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