When Klei began life in my basement, we had a prototype for our game, Eets, and looked to which platforms we could port it to. Eventually (you can read the full story here), it found a comfortable home on the PC, but we also ended up with a neat controller prototype to work with. Around the same time, we noticed the rise of the Xbox Live Arcade, and pitched it to then-XBLA-games-portfolio-manager Ross Erickson. It was a hit, and in April 2007 we released Eets: Chowdown on the XBLA.
We’ve also worked closely with Slick Entertainment to bring N+ to the fold, and through both of these products, we’ve certainly learnt a few things:
1. Exposure
We know who’s on XBLA. Better than that, we know they’re ready and willing to pay for games. In fact, $10 on a PC is $10 more expensive than what PC users are used to, where on the 360, $10 is an incredibly great deal. Add in the fact that the barrier to entry for XBLA is relatively high (at least compared to the PC), and you’ll find that it’s far easier to get noticed on the 360 than on a PC.
Note: I’m not going to go on and praise XBLA’s conversion rates — they’re very high, but they’re also irrelevant. It’s like comparing the conversion rate of Wal-Mart and bikes to a bike shop (the bike shop will certainly have a higher bike conversion rate, while Wal-Mart certainly sells more bikes).
Microsoft also has a decently large install base, and the Dashboard is built to show off your game whenever anything new pops up. Arcade Wednesdays has been very successful at drawing eyes to the latest products out, and Major Nelson and the like help drive even more people to your games.
At least in our experience, we have done far better volume both in terms of downloads and purchases on the Xbox than on the PC. I also suspect that, for the average game, the Xbox Live Arcade tail is longer and thicker than the casual space.
2. Good risk / reward structure
Compared to traditional console titles, games on XBLA (and any other console download service) are cheaper to make, require far less marketing, and the production cycle is cut to a third. In fact, I could probably write an entire article on AAA titles, and why it’s a tough life to make one as a third party developer.
Compared to casual games in the PC space, you immediately have more guaranteed exposure, as we talked about above. Your royalty rates are also higher (depending on your arrangements), and, not unimportantly, your profile as a studio raises significantly when you are known as an XBLA developer (few) rather than a casual PC games developer (many).
These two factors means that, as a small-medium sized studio, Xbox Live Arcade is a great place to gain some exposure with a good chance of some decent ROI.
3. Great support from Microsoft
I have to say, we were very impressed with the level of support we received from Microsoft during development. All three key points of contact (PM, Test Lead and Release Manager) had lightning fast response times — closing on the final stages of development, I would email our Test Lead at some time past midnight, and received a response 15 minutes later.
Microsoft also understands where the key barriers are to small developers and removes those barriers for you. They either handle it for you (ESRB submissions) or give you direct contact to the teams you need to know to get it done (testing and localization).
4. Easy to develop for
Developing an Arcade game on the 360 is a smooth ride: you have more power than you need, and the platform libraries are mature and easy to use. For the most part (see the note below), you can concentrate on building your game as efficiently as possible. That means both using their internal libraries (such as networking and match-making) and external third party libraries that you may have been prohibited from using because you couldn’t guarantee your target market would have good enough specs on the PC.
I’m also really looking forward to seeing how XNA turns out. I’ve seen Nick do some amazing things with it.
Note: Certification is that necessary evil that certainly no smooth ride at all. After the first time through it, though, it gets much easier.
5. Access to achievements, leaderboards, upsell features, etc
Microsoft puts a fair amount of focus on these features, and with good reason. My suggestion if you’re building an Arcade game is, think about these things early, and make the most of it. They’re great for extending your product shelf life, and obviously your upsell is incredibly important for your bottom-line.
I think many AAA developers could use a couple lessons in upselling, and building an Arcade game might not be a bad idea to do that. Too many of the demos on the Marketplace actually make me want to buy the game less than before I played it because of how badly it was put together.
Obviously, it’s not all a bed of roses to develop for Xbox Live Arcade. There are certainly things that could be much improved in their systems, but it was definitely a positive experience for us. Next week: I’m on holiday, but I’ll think of something interesting to write about
