With PlayStation Network they could self-publish. XBLA titles either do really well, like the top 10, or they fizzle out quick clearing under 25k copies.
”Why choose PSN? It was the only way we could self-publish,” Murray told the Develop Conference in Brighton, reports GamesIndustry.biz. ”XBLA is kind of a slaughterhouse for smaller developers. There are games that do amazingly well. But there’s two titles released every week and a lot of those are falling in that 25,000 or less category.”
Murray pulled up figures that Hello Games themselves put together for Xbox Live for self published games that go without third-party support. He claims that 47% sold less than 25k copies, 23% hit around 100k, 13% reached 200k and 17% managed over 200k.
Joe Danger broke-even its first day selling on the PlayStation Network said the studio boss, clearing 50k copies its launch week.
Indie studios can really make opportunity in the console services market because big publishers look at it as the ”ginger step-child” of the digital market and are uneasy about experimenting with creative ideas.
”It’s not to say publishers are sh*t, but small studios are amazing in this space,” explained Murray. They got feedback when trying to shop around for a publisher for Joe Danger, before choosing to self-publish: ”Name me one popular game with motorbikes”, ”we want games that are less about fun right now” and ”can Joe be a monkey? We like monkeys”.
Have you fired up the stunt bike with Joe Danger, videogamer?
