The lights are on
[Update]
Through its PR agency, Edelman, Microsoft issued an official statement on this story, assuring gamers that Xbox Live is in no danger of being taken down.
“Xbox LIVE Arcade is and will continue to be the premier destination for quality downloadable games at a great value, boasting an ever-growing, eclectic library of hundreds of games, spanning every genre. We are committed to providing new downloadable games for Xbox 360 and continuing our work with 1st and 3rd party developers on the platform. We have no plans to dissolve the service at this time.”
[Original Story]
In a new interview, Microsoft's Michael Wolf speculates that Xbox Live Arcade will eventually be phased out as digital distribution matures.In an interview with Vox Games, Wolf, Microsoft's global marketing manager for XBLA, said that the service might eventually be taken down due to the increasingly blurred line between large-scale retail games and ambitious XBLA games.When asked if XBLA would eventually be phased out of existence, Wolf answered, "Personally, I'd say absolutely, yes. I think digital distribution has to be like that. I don't think XBLA will be leaving soon. It is an incredible platform. We have XBLA fans, I don't think it's going to be announced anytime soon. One thing Microsoft has proven is that we continue to try and adapt and innovate in experiences."However, that doesn't mean that the company is turning its back on downloadable games. It would rather be a reaction to the changing market, citing the example of Remedy's Alan Wake: American Nightmare, which in past year's would have been a retail, disc-based game. In the future, as XBLA games become more ambitious and more triple-A games go digital, designating games as "Xbox Live Arcade" games might be a meaningless distinction.Source: Vox Games via XBLA Fans
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That's pretty cool. Games should just be treated as games, not disc games or downloadable games. There are more than a few downloadable games that are better than a significant portion of games on discs and as technology goes further, more games will be downloaded, hell, you can download the original Fable over Xbox live.
well its old they gonna probably try and come up with something similar to steam as will sony probably , it probably end up more like origins though.
Slow news day, I guess. Guess I'll go back to Jason David Frank's Facebook and mock his car accident with Power Rangers jokes.
Dont get me wrong I do believe that the arcade is some what of just *** games on a multi billion dollar corporation thing they call XBLA. But I really do like some of the games that come out of it like; Nexuiz, Gotham City Imposters, Alan Wake: America Nightmare, Limbo, Trials, etc. Just I think they need to make it easier to navigate, poorly review games dropped, and just have it where its almost like a triple a arcade title:) I
I see some room for a lot of improvement there. They better innovate, or stay out of it.
So the only thing that will be affected is the name? Seems like a waste of time.
I would've been happy with Alan Wake's American Nightmare as a retail release, if it was properly priced.
I'm still not a big fan of digital distribution because no harddrive is as reliable as a physical disk, card, or cartridge.
Well, that kinda answers my questions...
I don't think i wan't that to happen
it will be an error and huge mistake to phase it out, the thing works..dont mess with what works
There won't be a new name for it. They will just be Xbox 360 games that you download. They'll just price accordingly like they do now. A once called XBLA Game will just retail at $10, $15, $20 appropriately as they do now. I also would like to point out that it would be a great time to drop the Microsoft Points System when they drop the XBLA Category. I'm looking forward to an all digital future with either streaming or massive cloud storage mechanics.
It's interesting in that different types of games typically should have different labels (and thus, expectations) attached. I wouldn't expect something like UNO to be grouped in with Mass Effect. I think the separation serves a really useful purpose.
This makes since. Industries and companies evolve and their marketing strategies do the same with them. I'll be anxious to see how they deal with the ever changing and growing downloadable market.
If digital distribution is the way of the future, then consoles are going to need WAAAAYYYY larger hard drives. My 120GB 360 only has 36GB left and the only games I have installed are XBLA games and some on-disc DLC. Space is my number one concern.
If this makes games more expensive, then that might suck