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Download on your console or kill indie games

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Super Stardust developer, Ilari Kuittinen, says that if things don’t change in the downloadable games market, indie developers will have to stop making games for consoles.  He points out that only 300-400 games broke through the one million sales threshold on the PSN or XBLA, this despite having a possible market of 150 million users.

As he explains

Calling downloadable games smaller is true, if you compare them to the big production games, but I believe that cost of some of the bigger downloadable games has already had a budget in the range of several millions of dollars, so there needs to be quite a lot of sales to even breakeven at the given price point of $10 to $15.

It’s understandable why indie games are becoming more expensive.  We’ve come to expect consistent physics, multiplayer support, and realistic worlds.  This means that developers have to license expensive engines or develop their own mechanics.  All this takes time and money.  Kuittinen hopes to find a more enthusiastic market on the next-gen consoles, and will be developing a spiritual successor to Super Stardust for the PS4.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely (if ever) download a game for my console.  My indie games generally make their way onto my computer through Steam. Do you play indie games, and if so, where do you play them?

Last Updated: May 30, 2013

12 Comments

  1. Macethy

    May 30, 2013 at 09:10

    Steam download yip. Quickest and easiest way to do it.

    Reply

    • matthurstrsa

      May 31, 2013 at 07:44

      Plus, if you wait for the sales, they’re unbelievably cheap! Sales and Humble Bundles, which also means you can give to charity. Its a win win!

      Reply

  2. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    May 30, 2013 at 09:14

    Same here. I love indie games, but I play them on my PC too.

    Reply

  3. Rinceandspit...

    May 30, 2013 at 09:15

    I play games like Mirror’s Edge, I haven’t to date bought games on my xbox though. Does that make me a bad person? Should I worry about my soul?

    Reply

  4. DaeMon

    May 30, 2013 at 09:57

    only steam for me….if they build it out on the next gen consoles and I get a better internet connection ill have a look

    Reply

  5. Tbone187

    May 30, 2013 at 10:09

    Without being too harsh, Indie games are irritating and a waste of time…hehe… I couldn’t care less if they fade out really…

    Reply

  6. ElimiNathan

    May 30, 2013 at 10:34

    Most on Steam but a couple on Xbox

    Reply

  7. CaptainNemo42

    May 30, 2013 at 10:34

    Why do people keep talking about a 150 million install base, or potential users? Are they going on total sales of the consoles? Yeah sure that is a lot, but shouldn’t factors such as RROD or people buying a console as a tech gimmick? Or how about the 44 million offline Xbox users who can’t buy the indie games from XBLA?

    These stats sometimes need some perspective me thinks…

    Reply

  8. Trevor Davies

    May 30, 2013 at 11:31

    I prefer getting mine through the various indie bundles or on gog, then only steam.

    Reply

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