Xbox Live indie devs unite for promotional push
'Indie Uprising' seeks to overcome profile and saturation issues on XBLA
A consortium of independent developers have banded together to jointly promote their upcoming Xbox Live titles.
With indie games' profile on the service subject to some scrutiny over the past week, 14 small studios have launched the Indie Games Winter Uprising, seeking to raise profile of what they claim are superior titles.
"If you thought that the XBox Live Indie Games service was just filled with massage apps, clones, and garbage, think again," claimed organiser Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games.
"We are fighting back against mediocrity and lameness in the best way we know how - by releasing amazing games." The titles constitute a mix of established and new indie developers.
Explained MagicalTimeBean's Ian Stocker, the idea came about "when we were first displaced on the dashboard and sales were in the gutter.
"I asked [Boyd] if he wanted to release Cthulhu at the same time that I released Soulcaster II, so we could do some cross promotion. Even though the games are different genres, they target the same demographic so if we can get someone to visit the channel for one, maybe she'll buy the other as well?
"Robert was into the idea and thought we should take it to the next level. If we coordinate two releases, why not coordinate 12? More traffic = more sales = more revenue for Microsoft = increased likelihood of promoting Indie Games on the dashboard. That's the theory at least."
The initiative will see all 14 games launched during the first week of December, priced from 80 to 400 MS points. More details on the titles are available here.