The Financials of Xbox Live 35
Via GameSetWatch, a post exploring the cost and payoff from an Xbox Live game. From the article: "Let's say you are a publisher or a developer that is able to fund your own development, so, a $10 game (800 Gamer Points) would net you $6.50, or 120,000 units * $6.50 per unit = $780,000. Again, if you are a starving Indie developer this sounds like an infinite amount of money. But, in the world of publishers, this is not considered a big hit."
Nice new first rung on the ladder for a developer (Score:4, Interesting)
Sell your car and raise some money from friends and make a cell phone game. Or a portal game. Or now an XBL game. Make enough money from that to make another two causal games. Next you can do maybe a budget title with a respectable publisher.
Do a good job, you have self-generated the capital to do the blockbuster.
Yeah yeah, money isn't everything in making a great game, but it sure helps a lot when you have an expansive vision that requires artists, writers, programmers, etc.
Arcade broadens Xbox 360 development options (Score:3, Interesting)
1. PS3, Cell Processor and 25 GBs of space on a disc. PS3 owners are going to expect a lot of pre-rendered high definition content for the $599 they are shelling out.
2. Xbox 360, high defintion console with DVD-ROM
3. Wii, standard definition console
4. Xbox 360 Arcade, games are less than 64 MB each
I think Microsoft should allow games that are as large as 512 MB. The larger games could cost $15 to $25. This would fill out the spectrum between 30 MB fun Arcade games all the way up to multi-DVD RPGs. You would need a hard drive for the larger games which most Xbox 360s have and the Core Xbox 360 owners can always add one if they want to purchase the intermediate games. There are a lot of games that really need to be a few hundred megabytes to be worthwhile, but would have a hard time fighting it out on store shelves. Niche games such as adventure games would be pretty cool.
I think a lot of developers will want to produce Arcade titles. Low cost development, no need to deal with retailers other than Microsoft, no advertising costs and everyone with a Xbox 360 can see your title available for purchase. There is also the advantage that Xbox 360 owners don't even have to go to the store to buy your title on a whim.
Re:Arcade broadens Xbox 360 development options (Score:4, Interesting)
Check out RoboBlitz (http://www.roboblitz.com).
It's the first Unreal Engine 3 game coming for Xbox Live Arcade.
Procedural textures are your friend.