All right, "la suite"
In this post, I'll try and explain why using XNA for a small studio can be a smart move, even if the direct sales first look weak.
Because you know, it's important. You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, PEOPLE LOVE YOU.
In a nutshell, it's all about having your studio being noticed by gamers, and help it appear on the industry radar.*
Back to the initial statement : the 3 Arkedo Series cost approx 50 K$ altogether to make, and XNA sales went approx. 50 K$ combined.
Costs and revenue are comparable in this example.
Call it a draw!
(DISCLAIMER: Costs only recoup wages for dev and art solely; the "2 guys for 1 month" thing.
I have not added the general costs, like Arkedo's private jet, and the fact that our windows can only be cleaned by fresh and young boobs, which can be quite costly. But having clean windows does help us to focus. Afterwards.)
So having 3 games on the XBOX, even on the Indie Games section (which must be less than 1% of the general traffic) does help you get noticed.
Note that "noticed" does not necessarily mean "liked". It just means more people will react to your game. Good or bad.
The first batch of Arkedo Series got Arkedo:
- another paid deal with MGS (Snake unrelated) for the launch of WP7, with OMG -Our Manic Game.
- to convince a
very nice JP Publisher we could make their new installment for XBLA and PSN (that was pretty awesome, actually),
- to convince also Intel that the Arkedo Series could be a nice addition to their AppUp platform (basically, an Appstore/Steam for PC notebooks, launched in France next week)
- to seriously consider being ported to PC in general. More in a in a few weeks.
- to seriously consider being ported to PSN, too. More in a in a (small) couple of months.
- and to finally help us dramatically push our own -quite expensive- XBLA/PSN project. We are now finishing the "first third" phase for this project.
So in a nutshell, what looked like "only" 50 K$ turned out in the end being a few hundreds thousands eurodollars in indirect -yet closely related- sales, and built some hype around our current "big" game.
So thank you Indie Games on XBOX, thank you XNA, and more importantly, thank you A LOT to everyone who tried our games.
There have been some rather grim times for us in 2009 (the badge was a bitch to get), but the rather consistent flow of incoming lovemail we got helped us keep a big smile on our faces and just STFU and go back to work.
I really recommend XNA for everyone.
It's simple, it's easy, and it allows you to have a new audience while getting some attention from the industry.
It's awesome.
As soon as we can resume our Series, we will. Hopefully you'll agree next year that we had to focus almost exclusively on our current "big" project.
We are just a handful, a small one at that, and we really look at our current game as some kind of way to show THE WORLD why we thought it would be worth it if we did not die right away.
We have stuff to say. Sorry: we have stuff to YELL, if that's OK with you ^^
I would love to say "Stay tuned", but this project is bound to be live by Xmas next year, minimum. Maybe a tad later, depending on the scope.
Hopefully, a new game by us, done for others, will be revealed shortly now (we are just putting the final touch to the reference build right now, then there are ports planned for XBLA, PSN, and PC).
* Yes Virginia, there
is an industry radar.
