Xbox Live Arcade

[grimreaper]

from http://xbox.ign.com/articles/525/525062p1.html

... people who like playing casual games on their PC but would like to play in the living room on their big screen with their family and friends ...

Each game offered on Xbox Live Arcade will have a playable demo version. Users will simply click a single button to download and try a playable demo version of the game. With another button press, users can buy the game ... Your credit card is automatically charged for the game through your Live account.

Oops

grimreaper

[Nauris]

If this succeeds, MS will suddenly control very powerful backdoor to thousands of consumers.

Btw, Garagagames Marble Blast was announced to be ported on Xbox, I assume they will use this system.

[BongPig]

Its all very exciting in my opinion.
:)

[Nikster]

Our game portfolio will include classic stuff like retro arcade, old-school genres you can't find anymore (like side scrolling shoot-em-ups and 2D platformers), and games like poker and pool

Am I missing something here ?? I guess they mean you can't get anymore on XBox...

I also saw Hamsterball mentioned on the titles available :) nice one.

<moan> Personally I'm a bit skeptical with Microsoft getting involved with anything,
last thing we need is them to patent the whole try before you buy shareware system like Microsoft tend to do </moan>

This could be a good thing for developers as it could be a well moderated portal, then again it may just turn into a normal flood ridden portal :confused:
who knows, I didn't read it too well but how will development work ? regular licensed XBox devhouses only, or are they going to release some shell so any John Doe can have a go ? :)

[Cartman]

More information:

http://www.xbox.com/en-us/livearcade/default.htm?level1=enuslive&level2=downloads5&level3=livearcade

I think this is a great idea. However I resent having to pay (even if it's just shipping) for a disc that allows me to play these demo's on my XBox. That's like me paying just so you can sell me something.

[PoV]

Oh, hadn't the service kicked off yet?

[z3lda]

The problem is people have to order the disc. It should be part of the dashboard. You can also get it from XBox Live, but you have to use the disc every time.

They are really making it hard for consumers to get these games.

[BantamCityGames]

The whole disc idea blows my mind... Why not just let everyone download it FROM Xbox Live DIRECTLY? I can see having the initial kickoff distributed by disc to get it out to the public quicker, but in that case, why not stick stacks of them in game stores al et aol.

[PoV]

Yeah, thinking about it more, I totally agree. Having to acquire a disk to play the games sucks. I just recieved my so called replacement power cable (if you were aware, MS is replacing a junkload of cables for free to anyone that fills in a form). They should have taken that opportunity to fire off a free of charge Xbox live arcade disk... or just put it directly in the dashboard as everyone's suggesting.

[VladR]

How can one get his game to their listing ? What are their requirements ? Some previous minimum sales (e.g. at least 10.000 copies sold) ?
Who decides if the game is good enough to be there ?
It would be an enormous source of cash-flow, that`s for sure.
I assume, they pay some royalties to developer, right ?
With so many people at XBOX Live, it can`t hurt to be there !

[KNau]

There are still significantly fewer people on X-Box Live than there are on, say, the Mac. I have no numbers but I suspect Mac games conversion is better than X-Box as well, plus there's no Microsoft-style gatekeeper who chooses what games can and can't be ported to the platform.

Whether your game is on X-Box Live, Macintosh or PC all you're talking about is a potential audience. Of all available potential audiences right now, X-Box is the smallest and hasn't proven to be more motivated to buy than any other audience. So don't get too excited.

The opening of consoles to the indie market is an extremely cool development but I wouldn't recommend rushing out for dev kits any time soon. You can still do better on PC or Mac.

[PoV]

Still waiting on a random person to mention whom to contact to get considered (there's several of these threads about xb live arcade, you could do a search). From what I gather, the skinny is if MS likes your game, they'll lend you a kit to port it.

While it's true, it's probably a small market at the moment, but given the nextgen's are around the corner, the xbox'en may get passed down to less hardcore gamer types, and this might be right up their alley. Not to mention, a possible price drop of existing xbox'en might be encouraging. EA publicly spoke in the past of regret for not continuing to support previous generation platforms after the nextgen's hit the market. Several budget publishers aparently did well on the PS1 whilst the PS2 was out, but that whole backwards compatability thang probably helped too.

So yeah, if MS does something about the whole disc thang (ship new xbox'en with it preinstalled for example, stick it in the "take one! free" stands at stores, or autoupdate), then there's a good chance this could be worthwhile. Not to mention it'd be cool for some to say, as an indie, you did an xbox game (the whole 'status' of being a console developer ;)).

[BongPig]

PoV, you can submit to XBLA via Jessica Tamms at Oberon.
Shes signed up to this very forum under the name jessycat.
Look her up in the members list for her contacts.

KNau, you cant compare the people on Xbox live arcade to your average MAC or PC gamer. The conditions are completely different.
All Xbox live players are already signed up using credit cards so that information is already stored. So, if an Xbox live player wants to buy a live arcade game, its as simple as pressing one button. No forms to fill. No confidetial information needed. No new account setup. So with this in mind, the conversion rates are much higher then trying to sell via the internet.

For us, Mutant Storm converts far better on Xbox than Mac or PC. Its getting the disk to people and them looking at the demos in the first place thats the problem rather than conversion rates.

[VladR]

BongPing : Do you get some royalties from each sale or did you get some upfront money - one-time flat license fee ?

[BongPig]

Its royalty based Vladr.
There were other options, but im not sure I can talk about them due to NDA.
Get in touch with Jessica. She can answer any questions you might have.

[VladR]

Thanks. Knowing there are royalties is enough. This is definitely some kind of secure secondary cash-flow because, frankly, Microsoft wouldn`t accept something that wouldn`t sell, that`s for sure.

[Pyabo]

Thanks. Knowing there are royalties is enough. This is definitely some kind of secure secondary cash-flow because, frankly, Microsoft wouldn`t accept something that wouldn`t sell, that`s for sure.

I think you're giving a little too much credit here... while it's an exciting innovation and I hope it succeeds, XBox Live is definitely not a proven market. And we've already pointed out how Microsoft is not exactly pulling out the stops to make it available to subscribers. We have no hard data on sales. I for one would be very leary of even taking the time to do a port unless I had some up-front money.

[BongPig]

I for one would be very leary of even taking the time to do a port unless I had some up-front money.

As I said, there were a few options when we signed up. We *chose* to take royalties.
Again, if anybody wants to know the ins-and-outs get in touch with the right people instead of speculating.

The only problem I see with the system is lack to delivery to the end user. Conversions are good. Royalty percentages are good. End users with the disk... not so good. The fact that you need a disk is something nobody likes thats for sure.
However, word is that MS havent given the channel its main push yet, so there is still hope.

I remain positive. :)
( although thats gotten me into trouble in the past! ;) )

[z3lda]

However, word is that MS havent given the channel its main push yet, so there is still hope.

I hope they are not done. But Xbox2 is right around the corner. They might as well integrate Live witht he dashboard then.

[VladR]

I think you're giving a little too much credit here... while it's an exciting innovation and I hope it succeeds, XBox Live is definitely not a proven market. And we've already pointed out how Microsoft is not exactly pulling out the stops to make it available to subscribers. We have no hard data on sales. I for one would be very leary of even taking the time to do a port unless I had some up-front money.

Well, it`s a mystery to me why should I loose a potentially significant revenue stream since it`s non-exclusive, i.e. you can sell it through portals still.
So it`s better to not be a part of it, that`s what you want to say ?
Please explain to me what would it hurt you to have your game listed at XBLA.

[Pyabo]

Vlad, nowhere in my post was I advising you not to go this route, nor did I say it would hurt you. My point was that you seemed to be treating it like a gauranteed money delivery system, and I don't think it is at all.

Say you spent 2 months of work doing the port, and in the end only made 500 sales, netting you $2500. Would it be worth the effort? You see my point?

That being said, I for one certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity if it came along. It would be good exposure and fun to be part of this experiment. Like I said, I hope it succeeds and I hope Microsoft starts doing a better job of pushing it and making it accessible.

[VladR]

Vlad, nowhere in my post was I advising you not to go this route, nor did I say it would hurt you. My point was that you seemed to be treating it like a gauranteed money delivery system, and I don't think it is at all.

Say you spent 2 months of work doing the port, and in the end only made 500 sales, netting you $2500. Would it be worth the effort? You see my point?
OK, you got it right, I am treating it as a guaranteed money delivery system. I really can`t believe that Microsoft would be pushing a game that couldn`t sell. I really think it has to sell at lest 5000 copies within 1-2 years and for me that would be a significant revenue stream.

However, my games are usually budget ones, which means they`re far from casual but also far from AAA. Oh well...

[tolik]

Just FYI:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/livearcade/games.htm