Anger as Microsoft moves its indie game store to the back
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 UI update has angered some indie developers who find their games now tucked away at the back of the shop.
Of the numerous tweaks made by the dashboard update, one of the most significant is that Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) store has been split from the games section and moved into the Specialty Shops.
Facing a future threatened by obscurity, some XBLIG creators have written on a Microsoft developer forum to criticise the shuffle. Others posting on the App Hub Forum, meanwhile, believe the service is dying.
Indie developer Jason Deacon, said the switch was sad to see, “but not unexpected given the direction of the platform for the past several months.”
Deacon added: “I know the XNA dev team have worked hard on XNA 4.0 to standardise cross-platform features & compatibility etc, but it seems like it's a waste of time and effort.
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“Personally, I've stopped work on my two XBLIG projects until I see a clear and positive direction emerge for XBLIG, and so far it's not looking good.”
Other developers joined in on criticising the move.
“I'd like to know the rationale behind it - at least then the community could try and come up with constructive alternatives, rather than being pushed further into obscurity," said user Deej, developer of Clover: A Curious Tale.
“I think this is really bad for the service,” added Kris Steele of FunInfusedGames. “I hope Microsoft changes this but I doubt they will. If the service was more profitable, none of us would develop for the phone like they want us too.”
Weapon of Choice developer Mommy's Best Games, meanwhile, said Microsoft’s move was “a categorical failure”.
The group added: “I'm here to mourn Indie Games being known as 'games', which I suppose we must now rename Indie Specialties."
A UI modification has, meanwhile, meant that the top 50 indie titles are featured as opposed to the top twenty – a move which will likely improve the indie eco-system.
Every platform has rough games in its beginning, as developers are still learning the tools. For Indies, unfortunately, this means really bad games.
It would take another year for us to start seing really good Indie games on Xbox. Creating content that appeals to its core audience is very hard, people expect really polished games.
A lot of people have invested years learning XNA aiming for the Xbox, because making games take this long. Microsoft doesn't care, or doesn't understand that.
How hard could it be to at least leave the channel in the games section? Why does MS needs to kill it? Does Apple moves bad apps to a obscure location or does it let people decide?
Good luck to all of you that trusted MS. And please learn that you can't trust companies, if it is not making them money, don't expect any favors. There is no place for good will in this business.
Sorry Diego, that is utter rubbish. It doesn't take many years to come up with good games, as can be seen from the DBP entries. The problem is, it takes only days to come up with a pile of turd, in the form of a lolcatz slideshow, or massage app, or soundboard. Tell me how any of those qualifies as a "game". If you can't produce quality fast enough, then that's your problem, not Microsoft's.
The problem has been caused by what they allow on there, had they clamped down on it from day one, the channel would have had a chance. Microsoft gave everyone a chance to earn money, and idiots abused that and made the IG channel a home for crapware. The channel has ended up where it deserves to be, and it's the poor deva that have caused it.
Aplle doesn't allow bad apps on the store, period... Microsoft should have done the same. It sounds like you're a bitter crap ware developer, perhaps you should try the PS3 for your indie fix... good luck with that.
