I’d heard a couple of people say that Xbox was basically not worth aiming for anymore as an indie, unless they offer you a chunky Game Pass deal - which they probably won’t, unless you’re a known quantity by reputation or sales on other platform. This article backs that up; good to know if like me you’re an outsider to console dev and would be going in blind https://www.patreon.com/posts/do-game-still-to-104149801?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
@psychicparrot42@sinbad Steam sales "never been stellar for anyone" UNLESS you have "big luck/big marketing" BUT the games are easy to put there and they stay there with no additional costs "long tail". ID GIVES OUT FOR FREE WHAT ?? I am on ID@ and last time I checked was like "No you have to pay XXXXXXX to have a devkit!" .. Where is this free ???!!
@psychicparrot42@gilesgoat ahh maybe that’s the difference, perhaps the impression from other indies was of the SeriesX / PS5 targets. Do you know what console your players bought it on?
@sinbad@psychicparrot42 Now I am confused .. I tought that "Series S" is the NEWER more powerful model and that "X" is the older one, but checking the MS site seems it's all the reverse that "X" is the more powerful one and "S" is the less powerful one.
@gilesgoat@sinbad@psychicparrot42 Xbox have really shot themselves in the foot with their naming. I keep up with this shit and I barely know the difference - at least with Sony, you can instantly tell that the ps5 is "two more" than the PS3 or whatever but Xbox Vs 360 Vs Series Vs xbone Vs 1x? No fucking clue
@sinbad Also applies to PlayStation, with the same "unless you get PS+ or diversity fund money" caveat
It isn't that PlayStation can't make money, it's just that what sells there isn't remotely what most indies are making. They've more or less captured the AAA Gamer audience.
@glassbottommeg I’m sort of glad TBH, not having to think about Xbox & PS and just concentrate on Steam and maybe consider Switch 2 at some point is a lot more manageable
@sinbad@glassbottommeg It's interesting how there has been a wave of "let's help indies get onto our platform" from both Sony and Xbox, but it has shifted back to ignoring these, or not being worth aiming at for smaller studios (or just straight up being too convoluted and stupid, with Game pass)
Maybe they realized it's not worth it financially (since that's the only metric that's used nowadays 🙄) to try to bring indie games into platforms that are mostly populated by super mainstream gamers.
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