We've all read about the problems facing Microsoft's Community Games line, it appears that the company is finally about to do something about it -- but is it the wrong thing?
According to a report on Screen-Play, several major indie studios have been given word that Microsoft plans to dramatically reduce their Indie Games line. Reportedly the move comes as a result of several major third party developers complaining that too much content is available on the service and that it needs to be cleaned up.
Reportedly there will now only be space for roughly 35 Indie games a year on the service, a problem when you take into account that at one point you could browse through over 100 different titles. Since E3, Microsoft has been stressing that the quality of downloadable games has gone dramatically up -- citing games like Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Shadow Complex as an example. It's widely believed that reducing the service is being done, at least in part to make room for the upcoming Games on Demand service, which will allow gamers to download full Xbox 360 titles like Mass Effect and Bioshock direct to their hard drive.
more after the jump
No doubt the move won't sit well with an already spurned development community. Already citing concerns with the service's lack of marketing and restrictive nature, the new 35 game rule will only make it harder for a game to be noticed. One developer even took fault with the systems approval rules -- citing that an Indie game can be rejected for a number of reasons -- including being too similar to something already on the service while major publishers have the freedom to "flood the service with retro remakes."
So what does Microsoft say about service's problems? The exact opposite.
"Actually, I see Microsoft opening up more opportunities for independent developers and game visionaries to provide niche and mass appeal products through our community games program," said Andrew Jenkins, Senior Product Manager for Xbox Live in Australia and New Zealand (where the article was published).
More as it becomes available.
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