After Dev Outcry, Microsoft Reverses Indie Game Decision [Update]: Microsoft Comments

Microsoft has taken the step of reinstating Xbox Live Indie Games in the “Games & Demos” session after an outcry by developers.

With the latest dashboard update, Microsoft had moved Indie Games into the “Speciality Shops” section along with avatar items and the Game Room service, effectively relegating the platform.

Last week, developers including Nathan Fouts of Mommy’s Best Games told Nukezilla that the change was “counter-intuitive” and only served to make Indie Games more difficult to find. Others, including Faux Robo’s Jason Tagmire, said he would have preferred “to wait, talk to some developers with new games being released, and see how everything is working out before” releasing any new titles.

Along with the initial change, Microsoft told Eurogamer that: “The intent of the Specialty Shops section was to provide access to marketplaces that focus on a specific type of content, with unique ways of sorting through that content. We wanted to give Xbox Live Indie Games that full marketplace experience and felt this was the best place to do it, alongside other popular channels like the Avatar Marketplace.”

On a personal note, it’s nice to see Microsoft react to developers’ pleas, especially in such a short time. There was much outcry on developer forums and in the press so well done to Microsoft for listening to Indie development community. This reversal removes the majority of the problems and will hopefully result in a continued growth of the Indie marketplace.

Update: Microsoft’s Dave Mitchell has posted on the App Hub forum detailing some of the upcoming changes as well as highlighting why they reversed the move:

We’ve definitely seen a lot of feedback surrounfing [the Speciality store change] as well.  The intent was to provide a special destination for Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers and not to “bury” it as some have suggested it.  We are constantly striving to make sure we are optimizing the experience for our users and developers across the entire marketplace – Indies included.  Based on the strong feedback from all of you however, we are in the process of moving the channel back.  You should already see this process underway being reflected on your consoles.

There’s some interesting nuggets of info if you’re an Indie dev, too.

Update via: Eurogamer