Microsoft Announces Changes for Xbox Live Indie Games
January 4, 2012 13 Comments
I normally don’t post news items here at Indie Gamer Chick, but today Microsoft announced three major changes to Xbox Live Indie Game development policy. They are as follows.
- Xbox Live Indie Games can now be 500MB in size.
- The minimum price of 240MSP now applies to games 150MB in size or higher. Games at under 150MB can (AND PROBABLY SHOULD!!) be priced at 80MSP.
- Developers can now publish twenty games a year.
As people know from my previous article about pricing, I have no patience or tolerance for developers that over price their games. It’s not reflection of quality. It’s how the market works. Microsoft made this move so developers could be more competitive. And for the record, this is not a race to the bottom. Your games are only worth what consumers are willing to pay for them. If you price higher without being forced to on some misguided principle, you’re just being silly.
Any developers who wish to use my site as a forum to announce you’ve dropped the prices of your games, you got it. Tweet me the title of your game and I’ll note it in a daily update every day for the rest of the month. The guys at Zeboyd Games have already done so with Cthulhu Saves the World, which is now priced at 80MSP.
I’m also interested to hear what you developers plan to do with all the added space you now have at your disposal. You can e-mail me or let me know in the comments section of this post, and I’ll include it in those daily updates. I applaud Microsoft for this decision in helping developers compete better with wireless gaming apps and against their own Xbox Live Arcade platform. Well done chaps. Now stop being assholes and get games a better place in the dashboard.
UPDATE: Indie Gamer Chick leaderboard member Antipole is now also 80MSP, down from its original price of 400MSP. Outstanding move. You absolutely have got to get this game right now.
Indie Gamer Chick 
“I’m also interested to hear what you developers plan to do with all the added space you now have at your disposal.”
Ummm… full motion video games with chicks in bikinis. Did the question even need asking?!
Some corrections mayhaps? Your second bullet point should say something like “games that are under 150mb may be published at 80msp, while previously only games under 50mb were able to sell at this price.” Nothing in the blog talks about games “under 80msp” but you probably mistyped there.
Also, the post says “When Creators Club became App Hub, we raised the limit up to ten. We’re happy today to let you know that we’re again raising this limit up to twenty titles per developer.”
Done. I probably should have waited until later to post this, when I could have given it my undivided attention.
About prices – I think they should change the 240MP price point to 200MP. That because I think maybe it’s quite common for users to charge 1000MP on their accounts, buy something for 800MP, then remain with 200MP left.
Eh, wake me when they allow us to place achievements and implement leaderboards proper.
The biggest implication for me here is that Microsoft have actually had a thought about XBLIG. That’s encouraging. Not VERY encouraging, but I’ll take what I can get.
Considering the Soulcaster price-drop experiment and its associated 500% (if I recall correctly) increase in revenue, this announcement should really see a lot of developers taking the opportunity to release at a lower price, and to drop their existing prices.
Ditto to Alans first statement. If someone at Microsoft is still pushing for improvements for XBLIG, then there’s at least a little bit of hope shining through! With any luck, Devs dropping prices and thereby increasing overall XBLIG sales will grab some attention at MS and spur even more changes. Call me an optimist, but fingers crossed!
Personally, I don’t know why they even ALLOW us to charge 400 MSP, when customers and devs alike point to 80 MSP being the best and ONLY choice for selling even a pittance.
I suppose when there are (relatively) big hits like Fortresscraft, the higher price point makes for more impressive revenue figures.
we need offline play too. This is causing a major issue for people. I am concerned what will happen to all games I have purchased when a new xbox is released, Do I lose all my purchases?
Good point. I hadn’t thought of that. I’m a chronic replayer of games, and the thought of losing access to all the indie games I’ve bought is troubling.
With regard to the addendum here: I bought Antipole as soon as its price dropped. I wanted to get it anyway, but I rarely spend 400 points on an indie game. 80, on the other hand, was an easy choice.
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