Joe Danger Devs: XBLA is a "Slaughterhouse" for Small Studios

[John Funk]

Joe Danger Devs: XBLA is a "Slaughterhouse" for Small Studios

Hello Games' Joe Danger is a PSN exclusive because the developers think that the Xbox Live Arcade is where indie games go to die.


Last month's Joe Danger, a bite-sized indie title about a washed-up stuntman trying to win back his former fame, was fairly well-received [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/7716-Review-Joe-Danger] by critics and gamers alike. Naturally, its exclusivity to Sony's PlayStation Network resulted in some grumbling from the Xbox 360 side of the fence - it was a cool-looking downloadable title, so why did it have to be an exclusive, huh?

According to GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbla-is-a-slaughter-house-for-smaller-developers], it's because developer Hello Games sees Microsoft's competing Xbox Live Arcade as a morgue for small studios like their own. Speaking at Develop Conference in Brighton, England, Hello Games' Sean Murray argued that while the top XBLA games sell very well, it's hard for the rest of the pack to break through.

"[PSN] was the only way we could self-publish," said Murray. "XBLA is kind of a slaughterhouse for smaller developers. There are games that do amazingly well. But there's two titles released every week and a lot of those are falling in that 25,000 or less category."

According to Murray's figures (which he cautioned were based on his own research and not official numbers from Microsoft), even though 17% of XBLA games sell over 200,000 copies, there are far more games that quietly sink under the waves. In fact, he claimed that 47% of all games on the Arcade fail to sell more than 25,000 copies. In contrast, Joe Danger sold 50,000 units in a week - the four-man Hello Games team broke even on the first day of sales alone.

I'm not going to disagree with him right off the cuff, but I'm curious as to why he thinks XBLA would be so different from PSN in this regard. Game sales have always been disproportionate no matter what platform you're on - the ones at the top sell millions, but they're few and far between - and I find it hard to believe that PSN is just somehow an oddity.

It might be that PSN doesn't have quite as many of the big-budget, high-profile downloadable titles backed by larger publishers (see also: Puzzle Quest 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/7826-Review-Puzzle-Quest-2]), but that's the only thing I can think of. Still, Joe Danger got a lot of good press - who's to say it wouldn't have sold just as well on XBLA as on PSN?

Maybe Murray's absolutely right; I don't know. It's just a strange thought to me.

(GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbla-is-a-slaughter-house-for-smaller-developers])

Permalink

 

[The Austin]

It's a shame.

As an Xbox player who enjoys arcade titles more than ACTUAL titles, it always hurts to miss out on a good game.

Oh well, I'm off to download the second Puzzle Quest!

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

That just sounds odd... it sounds more like they weren't confident in their own product.

On xbla you get a free trial... and if I thoroughly enjoy that trail I buy the full game.

If it received fairly good reviews then it would have received fairly good sales on any platform.

 

[duchaked]

so essentially they're afraid of having more competition on XBLA? guess it's true, larger market (which is also easier to get lost in admittedly)

 

[Colonel Alzheimer's]

It's good that Xbox Live Arcade is like that; it means that if you make a shit game no one will buy it. Unfortunately, most of the games are shitty, and there are only 5-10 games worth buying on XBLA. Hopefully Summer of Arcade will add a few to that list.

 

[zombie711]

if you can scramble 3 grand you get put at the front of the wiiware page

 

[squid5580]

So a company who made an exclusive is bashing the competition. Wow the originality is shocking. I am beginning to think that to make a PS3 exclusive you sign a contract saying you will bash the competition.

Seriously though most of the crap they put on XBL doesn't sell for a reason.

 

[Korten12]

And if their game was, you know, good it wouldn't have to worry about other games covering it up.

Joe Danger is amazing, I own it.

 

[mattaui]

I do think the real story here is that XBL allows such a huge variety of games in so many varying levels of quality that he feels that somehow brings down the chances of his own game.

Thing is, any mass market is going to sell large amounts of mostly crap with a few gems that stick out - that describes books, music, movies and yes, games.

 

[Jaebird]

Has it ever occurred to the man that not everyone has a ginormous hard drive for their Xbox to allow for multiple XBLA purchases? I'm probably speaking for myself in this case, because I have to think very carefully about what I buy, and I don't keep every game on my tiny hard drive. Nor do I have the patience to go back and redownload games I previously bought.

Plus, I wouldn't speak on behalf of PSN if I were him. Unless I have a demo to play, I won't give a damn about them.

 

[Jadak]

I'm not going to argue with the logic (correct or not) in choosing PSN over XBLA, but what I don't get, is why go exclusive?

Now that they have done well, it stands to reason that putting their game on XBLA now would be more or less a sure thing does it not? Unless of course, Sony made them go exclusive when they decided to put it on PSN, but otherwise, going over to Live now could only be good for them.

More importantly, what do they lose by putting it on XBLA? Does it cost a ton of money to keep it up there? Surely even 20k sales would still more than cover the costs of making it available.

 

[Jumplion]

Regardless, I have Joe Danger and it's Danger-ific, if frustrating when you're trying to beat the damn timer. While I understand his logic, I would like to see actual data instead of data that he claims to have research.

 

[Kojiro ftt]

I don't know how PSN is different, but I would agree about XBLA. The UI for browsing games in XBLA is what makes it a graveyard. If you don't check the new releases every week, then forget about it. You missed anything that doesn't have a big marketing budget to be advertised on the console's front page for weeks at a time, like Puzzle Quest 2.

And MS knows this, which is why it's all getting a face lift next week.

 

[Jared]

Oh wow...someone dosnt like XBLA now do they...think highly?

Well, its a market they are missing I suppose

 

[GonzoGamer]

So, how many days until MS gets one of their indie developers to make a statement saying that PSN is a morgue for indie games?

Didn't they already do this a year ago? Every few months they have to have this muckraker contest on some subject they can blow out of proportion.

These game companies need some real PR professionals. I'm constantly amazed that game fans are so loyal when we're constantly treated like the kids in a divorce.
That's why I hate Sony, I hate MS, and just to be safe, I hate Nintendo too. Our relationship is purely out of necessity and maybe once they stop patronizing us like the kids on the little bus, we can reconcile.