Starting with the new year, Microsoft has enacted some changes for their Xbox Live Indies Channel. Among other things, the changes include allowing for larger games, new price points, and a maximum number of titles per developer.
As posted on the official XNA Game Studio team blog:
Higher maximum CCGAME size
Since the start of Xbox LIVE Indie Games, CCGAME bundles submitted for Xbox LIVE Indie Games were limited to a maximum size of 150MB. We’ve heard all the great feedback on this subject and today we are pleased to inform you that developers are now able to submit CCGAME bundles up to 500MB through App Hub for publishing on Xbox LIVE Indie Games.
New limit for 80 point games
Another area we’re adjusting today is the requirement that titles larger than 50MB be priced at either 240 or 400 points. After raising our maximum size we’ve decided to also raise this limit. Starting today you can apply the 80 point price to any game with a CCGAME size under 150MB, which is three times the current limit of 50MB.
More titles per developer
The last change affects a fewer number of developers, but we still believe it’s an important update. Originally developers were limited to just eight titles on Xbox LIVE Indie Games. 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.
They also suggest visiting their forum thread with questions and comments.
[source] XNA Game Studio team blog
I'm curious about what the xna community has to say about this. I know that some people have seen moderate success with small games at the 80msp price point, and I've also heard of people who originally put their games out through xna creators club/xbox live indies/whatever ended up making a lot more money after porting their stuff over and offering it through steam.
Taking away the impulse buy 80msp price point seems like it could be the final nail in the coffin for some fun little games.
Yeah, there are some little games on there that are worth a dollar... but that's about it.
I think the only games I've bought have been at the 80msp price point, i.e. the "it's a dollar just buy it" level.
But I haven't looked at the games on there in a while, so I'm not sure if anything justifies these higher mandated prices.
I mean I paid a dollar for 'this is hard' and I thought that was a tremendous value. But in a world where you can buy AAA titles on steam for five dollars a year or less after release, there is less and less room for small indie games to compete at that price point. In that case I feel like selling a whole bunch of games for a dollar is probably their best hope to stay afloat. (which, it would seem, has been exemplified by the recent glut of 'indie bundles' that all make like a million dollars in three hours)
My thing is more that I just don't look to my Xbox 360 for Indie games. That itch is completely scratched by Steam at this point in time. For that matter, I can't remember the last time I bought a game from XBLA because nothing stood out, or I waited for the Steam version of the game.