Indie Games Return to Xbox Live Games Marketplace

[Andy Chalk]

Indie Games Return to Xbox Live Games Marketplace

Spurred by the outcry of angry developers, Microsoft has "quietly" returned the Xbox Live Indie Games store to its original position in the Xbox Live Games Marketplace.

The Xbox Live dashboard update that went live on November 1 brought with it a jarring surprise for independent game devs: The Indie Games store was removed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104933-Xbox-Dashboard-Changes-Angers-Indie-Devs] from the Games Marketplace and added to the "relative obscurity" of the Specialty Shops area instead, alongside such things as the Avatar Marketplace and the Rock Band and Guitar Hero Music stores. Microsoft defended the move, saying its intent was to give indie games "that full marketplace experience," but developers remained unconvinced and unhappy.

Apparently realizing that it wasn't going to win any hearts and minds on this one, Microsoft did the next best thing and backtracked, returning the Indie Games store to its old spot in the Games Marketplace. The change was made with no fanfare and seems to have caught many indie devs by surprise. "I voted on the connect issue and tweeted about it like everyone else," one member of the App Hub community forums [http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/65669.aspx] wrote. "I just never thought Microsoft was actually going to respond to us, much less put us with the games." He also noted that it was a bit strange that the change would be made without any official notification, adding, "They have bizarre PR."

I guess it's like the man said: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

Source: Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/36309/Dev-victory-as-Microsoft-promotes-indie-store]


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[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Good ^_^

Now they just need to remove the damn age restriction... I want to download indie games -_-

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Hey, it's a screenshot of Susan's dashboard!

Glad to hear it's back in the spotlight.

*goes to play Shoot 1-Up*

Oh wait...my 360 is offline, so it won't play indie games.



GIVE INDIE GAMES AN OFFLINE MODE!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I guess it's like the man said: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

And then say "We did it for their benefit"
And then reverse it saying "We listen to our consumers".

Seriously MS, get Bill back. At least when you were being evil you weren't shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Loonerinoes]

"They have bizzare PR" is probably the thing I can agree about Microsoft the most really. I'm sure there's a twisted logic to it, but still...it's sometimes really out of touch with the people it tries to communicate with.

 

[Loonerinoes]

"They have bizzare PR." is pretty much how I feel about it. I mean, I'm sure it makes sense to them in a twisted logic kinda way, but oftentimes it's just very out of touch with the people it tries to communicate with really.

 

[mjc0961]

Oh great. If I find crappy indie games while looking for worthwhile content now, I am going to be pissed.

Also I wonder what excuse the indie devs will use when they see that their crappy games still aren't selling. "WAAAH Microsoft should have advertised my use the controller as a sex aid game on the spotlight section of the dashboard they hate indie devs waaaaaaaaaaah!"