Xbox Live Indie Games helped give Zeboyd Games an introduction to the world, but they recently announced that the Steam release of Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII sold more on Steam on its launch that it did on 18 months on the other platform. Robert Boyd, co-founder of Zeboyd, is clearly frustrated with XBLIG as they are offered right now.
“XBLIG is a great solution for new developers. It’s cheap, easy to learn, and has a great community of people that are willing to help each other, said Boyd. “However, from a perspective of actually making good money, I do not believe it is a viable platform. The greatest strength and greatest weakness of the service is that it’s the most open platform we’ve ever seen on any home console. Just about anyone can release an XBLIG title, and just about anyone does. As a result, the service has got a reputation for being full of garbage.
I believe Microsoft always intended for XBLIG to be a stepping stone for new developers: prove yourself on XBLIG and then find real success on XBLA. The problem is that right now it is more of a stepping stone to finding success on other platforms like the PC and mobile markets, and not on the Xbox 360 itself. Microsoft should be doing more towards making Indie Games a scouting ground for future talent, he added. “I believe that starting out with XBLIG was the correct choice for us. Without the experience and positive reputation that we gained from making XBLIG titles I believe it would have been much more difficult to get approved for Steam. The PC has definitely become a priority for us I would not be surprised if we ended up as a PC-only developer at some point in the future.”
Source: Edge
