Xbox Live sort of created the console indie community and also made it a success, and this is something that should be known to people who have been playing games for a long time. It’s because of XBLA that we’ve seen the community grow and purchase a lot of Indie games.
Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth have come out and said the same thing and praised XBLA for have an active community and helping the Indie scene grow.
“I think without a doubt the indie console community would not exist as it does today if Xbox Live Arcade had been dropped after the original Xbox iteration. No other console hardware manufacturer has had the success of downloadable games that XBLA has had, and many smaller developers have shared in that success,” the studio’s John Baez told OXM.
This sentiment was echoed by Dave Voyles, who is the co-organiser of the annual Xbox Live Indie Games Uprising: “I don’t believe Microsoft was prepared for the success that it would see, both in terms of the number of devs who were on board, and the volume of people who would browse the marketplace.
“Before XBLIG, and even after, there has yet to be an easy avenue for independent devs to get work released without going through a closed platform or dealing with a publisher.”
PSN is catching up now and the Wii U has a long way to go, but the console Indie scene is healthy and that’s only because of Xbox Live.
Thanks, VG247.
