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| 06.01.2007Re: 'Why Indies Can't Thrive On Consoles'
With reference to the opinion piece: "Why Indies Can't Thrive On Consoles" by Simon Carless.
I would just like to add a few other points to those in Simon's article.
Firstly I don't think the big three game console companies actually want Indies to exist on the same playing field at all, they want to keep the lions share of the market.
This has been a view that I've held for some time, and as the Indie market has started to mature and technology has allowed us to be able to produce and sell our games direct online, I can think of a number of things that have backed up that impression.
Both Sony and Nintendo, the traditional console only platforms, have for a long time made it very hard for a true Indie to produce games on their machines. That has been the nature of console gaming most of the time; it's big corporate companies that make games on consoles due to the hardware and legal set up around console development. Two guys in a bedroom never made a console game without having to sell their souls first so to speak.
Microsoft as the new console power on the block has been following the same path until recently with the release of XNA Game Studio Express. The thing is after reading all that I've been able to on it, I don't think it's all about supporting the rich creative talent that is often the preserve of the Indie scene.
I don't even think it's a good thing for the spirit of Indie development as a whole. My hunch is it's really all about having a high content rich environment for Xbox live on the cheap, and importantly keeping control.
As an Indie with good games you should be able to make a humble living of the games you make (heck maybe even hit the jackpot), not have to go groveling to a big company with hat in hand to accept the pittance you will get for your efforts.
What’s worse is shortly around the same time as XNA was being touted as the new method of promoting Indie development we had a new MS OS for the PC, the long time bastion of the Indie scene.
Vista is bad for Indie development from what I've seen of it. It's more intrusive, more locked down and by default won't allow a non ESRB (or other rating) rated game to be installed.
Maybe not a problem for the big publishing houses of the mainstream (who can pay to be rated and have to be), but a real kick in the teeth for most Indies. Ok the user can change those settings on the PC, but for games that wont get huge sales, the more difficult it is to run the game the less 'good will' gets spread around.
Finally all this talk of "convergence" between PC gaming and console gaming gives me the creeps, especially when it looks like what it really means is taking away the freedom to create and earn your living. On this track I predict a future where being an 'Indie' means little more than being a cheaper developer that has to do what the man in charge tells you to. I hope I'm very wrong.-J.Spartan
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Letters to the Editor
