Microsoft's war of independence

March 1st, 2013, 22:00 Posted By: wraggster

It's not looking good for the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. First Microsoft ceases development of XNA, the codebase that drives the self-publishing service that allows eager devs to sell their wares on the Xbox 360. Then Nat Brown, creator of the original Xbox,criticises Microsoft for what he sees as the "primary problem" with the Xbox 360, namely the lack of "a functional and growing platform ecosystem for small developers".The Indie Games slot on the Marketplace has diminished with every dashboard update, and while Microsoft has made some steps towards raising its visibility since, there's ample evidence that its presence on the Xbox Live Marketplace is merely tolerated rather than actively supported. Though Microsoft may yet surprise us by launching the console version of Apple's App Store, the assumption from most in the XNA development community is that the Indie Games Channel will quietly vanish when the next Xbox rolls around.Will anyone miss it? After some early promise the service never quite shook off the perception that it was awash with tatty clones and ugly Avatar games, and it certainly never produced the sort of breakout hit needed to give it commercial credibility in the eyes of consumers.Yet if you dig deep enough, there were - and still are - a small number of developers for whom XBLIG is not just their platform of choice, but the foundation of their business. What does the future hold for them? Should Microsoft abandon its indie experiment? To find out, Eurogamer spoke to three XNA developers who have all stuck with the service through thick and thin.I catch up with Nathan Fouts just as Serious Sam Double D XXL, his first Xbox Live Arcade game, goes on sale. Under the Mommy's Best Games moniker, Fouts was one of the first developers to gain attention on the Indie Games channel, breaking away from Insomniac Games to work solo on well received shooters like Weapon of Choice, Explosionade and Shoot 1UP. For him, the appeal was the chance to work independently but still publish on a mainstream console.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...f-independence

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