<![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> [www.gamesetwatch.com]

outrageous1

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Shame on you Kotuku ... do so real investigation before slander companies:
[www.gamesetwatch.com]


outrageous1

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Dumb move, Microsoft.

L_K_M

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @hahnchen: The royalty on wiiware titles is VERY, very low. Nintendo takes most of the cut.
Most being around three thirds of it.

Now, I don't know about MS. It wouldn't surprise me if they did this, because it would be in line with Nintendo.
However, it'd push away A LOT of indies (like me), if they've done this. Sony I hear is quite flexible.

Eden.B

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> i REALLY REALLY hope that independant game companies move over to PSN more. that would be aweeeeeesome.

joelface

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> hmm if Sony pays a flat rate to indie developers, how come That Game Company reports raking in tons of royalties for FLow?

yzzlthtz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> The big cut in royalties, and MS will be charging money for these games. Add that to the monthly fee for playing online at all and MS starts to look greedy, rather than giving back to "the communtiy".

Corporations are there to make money, but they could be a little less obvious about it.

crashlanding

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> 75% is quite a good figure but for mass sales it is a bit much, and 35% is too low.

Surely the only fair deal both parties here deserve is 50/50???

EdwinJ85

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: thats cool man, it's an easy mistake to make in this situation

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: Fair points. Most people would probably assume like I did that giving small and indie devs access to the market implies that it would be enriching for them but you're right, they never actually said that in their keynote.

rawg

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @okenny :): lol, I don't know if thats friendly or stalking with you following me but I am glad you are ;)

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Why should these companies only get 35% if the money for a game THEY made. All M$ are doing is distributing them.

OsbCure

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @darthmole12: I sometimes confuse the two :/

TheHun

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Irenicus-the one and only: OH SNAP! LOL... you went to bed, then woke up, came on this story and said this... That's it... your going on my friends list (LOL... I still think p2p-v-ded isn't as black&white as you make it :p )!

okenny :)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @rawg: The keynote was on the democratization of development, not the enrichment of indie devs. They have democratised the industry by allowing small and indie devs to have a go for much cheaper than larger industries, they have failed in fairly distributing the profit though. That does not mean it goes against what they aimed for in there Keynote though as I explained.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> 70% was a really high number, but the output for XBLA has been very crappy. There are a few good games, but the service has disappointed with a lot of quick cash-in games released for it. Maybe MS didn't get what they were expecting from devs so they made this change.

XBL is still a good place to release these games for the exposure, even with the lowered royalty. I'm curious as to how much Sony gives for PSN games.

DARTH_TIGRIS

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Toasticus: Well, there was a reason I put the ~ in front of the prices :). These were the prices about a year and a half or so ago. They probably have went down, or maybe they have different pricing structures for smaller developers. Based on publishing agreements or w/ever. Not sure on the absolute current prices.

@TheHun: They're talking about full commercial XBLA games, which requires the purchase of a dev kit, not XNA games.

darthmole12

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @rluzinski: 95% of the people posting here (including myself) have no idea if 35% or 70% is a high or low royalty.

Absolutely true, but if the rumor is to be believed then MS cut the developer royalty from 70% down to 35%, which really sucks for XBLA developers regardless of what others are paying. It certainly contradicts the theme that they were pushing in their GDC keynote.

rawg

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> in your face, indie developers!!

yzzlthtz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wow, first they make a ton of great announcements about XNA that could make it great for devs and gamers, then they pull this off, does the left hand know what the right hand does? I'm starting to get confused.

@okenny :): Only one ignorant is someone that thinks ping is better on a p2p server, sorry I had to do that ;)
@Seiryuu: LOL, you're funny.


Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @otakucode: That's a pretty fucking intense comment considering that this is an unconfirmed rumor, and that we don't even know what royalties Nintendo and Sony pay for their downloadable games.

If unconfirmed rumors on the internet leave you furious to the point of physically shaking, you should probably log off for a bit.

Toasticus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: My bad! I just thought you were only referring to Microsoft about taking 65% and not the the entire industry. I guess when you only referred to Microsoft about releasing a defective console it threw me off.

Sorry!

Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @otakucode: funniest comment of the day! "Do you hate money? Are you afraid of success?" Yeah MS one of the most successful company in the world, hates money so much they wanted to throw some 40bn to yahoo cause they couldn't stand all that money! ROFLMAO

TheHun

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @otakucode: You act as if MS takes all there money and kills them. They still get money and it should be more but now it's the average return of an indie devs investment. Plus ontop of the finders fee they host, administrate, tech support and everything else related to maintaning Live up and running. I think it should go MS 40 indie devs 60 but if this is the industry standard then it's to be expected really.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wow, Microsoft... you are the dumbest group of people I could ever imagine possible. Do you hate money? Are you afraid of success? What is it? You look at YouTube and other such organizations and you see the amount of participation they get and the idea of making an unbelievable pile of money just scares you shitless? If you think that you actually deserve to get 65% of revenue when you provide little more than a service which warrants a 10% finder's fee, you are DELUDED.

This just pisses me off to the point that I'm almost left shaking. It's a big company poking the little guy in the eye with a sharp stick, a professional boxer stomping a puppy to death. Microsoft is turning small developers over the hood of their car and raping them as hard as they can for no other reason than their size makes it possible. This goes beyond being an utterly bad business decision and rises to the level of being nearly a crime against humanity. Microsoft is raping the ideas the Internet was founded upon and shitting down the throat of every creative person that might have had a chance to improve the market with their wares.

And if you continue buying XBLA titles after this goes through, you are part of the problem and you ARE to blame.

otakucode

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @okenny :): blew what cover? it had something to do with the point I was making.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I know the indie game industry. There are so many developers out there, actually a glut of content. So MSFT can play them off against each other. PopCap doesn't want to take the deal? That's okay, BigFish, iWin, et al are happy to take the deal.

Fact is in casual games game play is like popcorn, it's disposable entertainment. Price point is $10. there isn't much margin in the biz.

Valleygrrl

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Tepoz: dude open your eyes. i'm gonna spell it in caps to see if it gets through to you now: IT IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR ANY COMPANY TO ACT THAT GREEDY. please stop trying to turn this into a sony/microsoft bitchfest
@Guizzy: no, it's not one and the same at all. learn something about ethics while I learn something about business.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wow...simply wow. Good job MS *shakes head*

Tuxy79

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: You just blew your cover. No body is defending Microsoft's hardware issues. I never had a 360 die on me but if it did considered how I've reacted to faulty hardware in the past, it may even be a deal breaker for me. That has NOTHING to do with this topic though. BigWeather, rluzinski and Brian Crecente all make excellent points that are in topic and that are realistic. You have to evaluate this story thinking this way otherwise you are charging forward with just unfounded assumptions. I for one hate what MS charges for their OSs but at the same time I recognize that their XNA platform is one of the best ways a developer can get into indie development and as much as this topic deserves to be watched, it's far to early to pass a verdict (whether one should be passed or not). Let's first see the reaction from the development community as this affects them and not necessarily the fans.

okenny :)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> If its not broken, don't fix.

Tei

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: I've talked about this before but:
[www.google.com]
Be sure and apply the same standards whenever possible.



Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: For a corporation that is publicly traded, being greedy and trying to turn a profit are one and the same.

Learn a bit about business, please.

If a corporation doesn't give the biggest return on the shareholders investments, heads are going to roll in the boardroom.

Guizzy

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> i hope its false cause ms has been on a roll with arcade stuff and announcements.

Truepatriot

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> The Sony "development kit" does not cost $10,000. Developers can use the PhyreEngine now that Sony is giving away for free.

Also, 70% - $75% is a legit amount to pay a developer in royalties since MS basically doesn't do anything except run the game through Q&A and then post it for people to download. That 25-30% of the remaining money MS gets now is about right. Taking 65% is like highway robbery.

BTheMan71

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: Ah, but you're assuming the other companies I have to deal with aren't taking 65%. What if the other companies I deal with are taking 70%, 80% or more. I wouldn't smile for any of them. I would just go with whichever one was the better deal for me. Do you know if those other companies will give me a better deal??

Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @redfoxx:
I wouldn't mock mods, they are a vital part of the indie gaming scene.

However XNA is quite different. Mods ride on top of existing games (which are on top of frameworks that actually deal with the hardware). XNA is the framework to which you can build games on top of... It's kinda like this...

Mods->Games->Framework->Hardware

UT3 mods are in the first part of the chain, XNA games at the second (and XNA itself at the third).

Greatly simplified, but I hope it makes sense. =)

(Here's hoping this doesn't double or triple post... Kotaku said it was adding it, but never returned, so I backed out, refreshed to be sure it didn't add it, and am reposting. Here's hoping. =/)


BigWeather

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @hungry_for_worms: Keep in mind, I'm not talking about the XNA creators club games. They haven't said a think yet about that business model. I'm talking about the full fledged live games that come to the Arcade.

Brian Crecente

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> 95% of the people posting here (including myself) have no idea if 35% or 70% is a high or low royalty. Pure ignorance, but don't let that stop you all from having an opinion!

rluzinski

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @okenny :): I hear what you're saying, but I think people need to make a distinction between corporations trying to turn a profit and corporations being greedy.

1) microsoft cutting developers' royalties in half is greed. no if's, no but's, no "what does sony/nintendo charge?", they announce a tool to embrace the indie dev community, then halve their royalties.
2) microsoft knowingly releasing a defective console is as a result of greed. people can talk about sony and nintendo being competitive as well til they're blue in the face, but intentionally releasing a faulty product to the public is inexcusable.

i really don't know how people can defend microsoft when they have knowledge of this. doing so goes beyond being a fanboy, it turns you into an MS executive's wet dream.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I may be mistaken but wasn't 70% an absolutely huge margin to begin with??

I thought a normal dev made ~ 5-10% on a 60$ title with the rest being split between the publisher and the retailer.

35% of all money made on an indie title seems like a pretty good deal to me personally given that you don't have to manage the infrastructure, network, hardware, support etc etc etc.

Rask

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Did they not learn anything from the whole writers strike. Seriously. You give high royalties to cultivate talent that will come back when they have more money or get acquired by bigger companies for your future business. I honestly hope that this rumor is a complete lie. That's a really big damage to future relationships. The complete nightmare scenario would be if sony did exactly the same thing. Still a 46 percent cut from where they were before might cause some devs to not think the service completely viable. Which will go on to starve the industry of future talent.

Shame on you Microsoft.

Kounji

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> One thing that I'm curious about is why were certain people mocking Mods for UTIII for the PC, 360, and PS3, but XNA is supposed to be the "next big thing"? In the end, don't they both do the same things, but the UTIII's mods are free?

redfoxx

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> From what I recall, Sony does not have a royalty system. They buy the games outright from developers for a good chunk of money.

LittleBigPlaneteer

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @thinkfreemind: What glut? So far all that's been bad with XBLA is a few small advertisements and a christmas downtine, 99% of the time it's been working and when it wasn't they gave you a free game for it. Apart from that the charging of the content is the only real problem and I do admit that is a big problem, it's a rip off to be charged 800 points for a few maps on Halo 3 or 100 for a set of 4 gamer pics. It is unfortunate but as I said they don't make or sell this content, for example the naruto game, they don't make or charge for those gamer pics, Ubisoft does.

I admit that, I personally dislike in-game advertising so wouldn't want to be told to just ignore those if it was in a game either. But if your looking at the competition Nintendo has a weak online service and Sony is gonna give you more advertising than you can handle most likely since there service is meant to be payed for by advertising. I would say it's better to have no advertising but alot of the advertising is just games and movies on the service which I find fine. If it was Nike shoes or something unrelated I'd get annoyed but not here.

I don't mind rants since I've had a few myself and your only talking on something you have a bit of passion for anyway. I agree about it being greed though, this is bad for MS's rep and I already planned on waiting to see which console I wanted next time because of the RROD incident. I don't have recurring RROD but MS made it possible that I could get it.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I'm not defending MS, but 35% is standard in the casual space (and even higher than some).

7ucky

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Morberis: What? You're paying to screw with the silver subscribers? That's news for me!

mizeriq

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Tepoz: you see you're confusing yourself there. corporations exist to make money, that much is obvious, but there's a difference between making money and being needlessly greedy. ask yourself this: would you smile and say "oh well, they have to make as much profit this fiscal year so we can attract more business" if a company was taking 65% of your earnings?

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Morberis: i'd be equally disgusted. your point?

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: Business is greedy... this is a fact. Everyone does what they can to increase their profit margin. EA for example can probably leverage things to maximize profit than Capcom can. PopCap probably has more weight than say the guy who developed Dishwasher. You know what though? When this guy make Dishwasher 2 and wants to put it on PSN because 1 was so popular, then MS will come to the table to deal. That's business. It would be nice if MS gave all developers 70% from the get-go but that's not realistic first of all but secondly, we don't really know what their royalty model is.
...
Listen. I don't blame the people who just feel MS is greedy and evil. That's just typical of consumers; they don't know any better. I do think the others that spout shit like "PSN.. the alternative!" are indeed fanboys. If I'm a fanboy for just getting angry when I hear strange things then I guess I am.

okenny :)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Guizzy: You are right in saying that we don't know how much Sony or Nintendo are giving them. I would be interested to know actually. I just don't think it makes sense that a company which wants these games would now decide to make it less appealing for the developers who might be thinking of making a game for them.

@-Sigil-: I realize that all companies want to make money, but at a certain point they will reach the breaking point at which it isn't worth it for myself and maybe some others to deal with all of the glut that comes along with a service I pay for. I am not talking about in game ads (I don't like that either), I am talking about the ads I see on the blades.

Xbox Live has turned into something similar to Google ads which I don't like. Sure they are easy to ignore, but I shouldn't have to see them. The difference is that I don't pay to use Google, so they have every right to make money this way. I pay for Live though, so I don't feel like I should be subjected to advertising like this. They have already made their money, greed is the reason I am not getting the service I desire (and that is what the old Live used to be).

Greed is also the reason that these small time devs will see less money for their hard work. I apologize for my rant (it wont happen again), but this news has kinda pushed me a little too far in my disgust for the lust of a dollar.

thinkfreemind

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Morberis: Exactly, unless posters know what Sony and Nintendo gives, then how can they say if the rumor is bad or not.

Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> As several readers have commented:
a) This is a rumor.
b) How was the 70% in-line with competition?
c) How is the (rumored) 35% in-line with competition?

Until we know the answers to all of that we can't be quick to judge. This does nothing to undo the positives of the XNA community gaming initiative.




BigWeather

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: All corporations are greedy. They exist for the benefit of their stockholders and noone else. Sony or Nintendo or any other corporation is any different. Only not for profit businesses are in it for the general welfware.

Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I wish it was ban Monday.

BigWeather

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar:

Unless you know it was still higher or in the upper ends of the industry standard. What would you say if you found Sony only gives 25% and Nintendo 30%

Morberis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> so its not indie games, per se, but an idea of royalty %

[hokiecsgrad.newsvine.com]

dnez

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wow, Microsoft really wants to hand victory to Sony in this console war, doesn't it?

Sasquatch

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Is there any information on how much Sony pays their indie developers? This article is interesting, but it would be nice to have a direct comparison before people go shouting their mouths off about either console.

EightBit

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @TheHun: yea i agree MS should get a percentage, but 65%? that's just insulting.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @okenny :): you don't have to be a fanboy to see MS is just plain greedy. being a fanboy would be grasping at straws to defend their decision.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @thinkfreemind: It doesn't "sound" like the right thing to do, but from what I gather the industry tends to be like that to small developers.

I seriously doubt Sony and Nintendo are THAT much more generous to small developers, especially considering how well XBLA has fared so far.

There's also the incredible exposure XBLA and XNA gives to those indie developers. I'm fairly confident that when compared to the alternatives on the consoles, and the alternative on the PC, being on XBLA means a lot for these developer's future credibility. Before recently, Microsoft probably didn't think too much of what they were offering, but with the numbers they recently gave at GDC; they've probably realized how much of a success xbox live is.

But then again, I'm not saying the above makes it right; I'm just pointing out that there are possible scenarios where this is not the crippling blow to indie development it can be made to sound like. I too would prefer indie developers to get a bigger cut, but I'm not going to complain on their behalf considering I know next to nothing about development costs.

Guizzy

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: I agree. I personally do not think 35% much, but developers usually tend to get that much so that kind of makes it "OK"

@nolifedopestar: without MS they probably couldn't make what they do. It's like how it costs more to set up a shop in popular locations, MS is a location. The developers are free to make games to sell for online, but they wont make nearly as much as they do on xbl.

PS. I am not advocating on MS's side, just trying to counteract the flood of MS hate via reason.

TheHun

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Seiryuu: ur post FTW. period

zanzibarlegend

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> This is sad. 70-30 was motivating, but I doubt 35% will really bring bread to the table for indies. XNA 2.0 was good news, this in turn is bad. Bad bad bad.

kryo

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Half of the idiots saying "boo MS and this is why PSN..." don't even know what the competition is offering in royalties or what Microsoft business arrangements with anyone is. You sound like ignorant idiots. Kotaku labeled this as a rumor because they haven't confirmed anything. Do you all seriously believe that company A and company B are making the same percentage on royalties? Did you even read the headline? It said small indie developer... what does "small" mean? Commenters need to stop baring their fan boy teeth because no other company is as open to Indie as Microsoft has been and is.

okenny :)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> we need to support indie game devs! everyday shooter, and etc are helping to bring diversity to gaming. if this is true, shame on you MS.

zanzibarlegend

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @thinkfreemind: All companies are greedy, Nintendo is making tons of money but is messing up the Nintendo royalty system (reward scheme thing based on stars) by making your points you earn expire, they are over charging on peripherals (why nt put nunchuk and Wii mote together for £30?) and they are hardly trying online despite raking in tons of money. Sony I actually think is good on the price front but MS nickel and dimes you alot on live but that content isn't created by them and your paying MS cos they make there own servers for this so it's a mroe stable system. Everytime you want to play a game, they don't have in-game ads and if they do that's the dev choice unless your complaining about that small space of advertisement on your blades that you can easily ignore.

That content isn't made by MS so they don't charge you for it. I do agree it should be free though. The terms and agreemant state the service may not always be operable so they didn't have to do anything but they gave you a free game anyway.

I agree on your last point though, they should probably boycot it till MS agrees to pay them more fairly.

@thinkfreemind: Yeah this is really Sh*t for indie devs, they should just get together and force MS to pay more.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> This would be why the indie game industry will always be PC-centric.

Pantsman

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Guizzy: 35% doesn't seem like a whole heck of a lot though does it? You do all that work to make a game (spend the money for the tools to make it also) and then let the company which sells it on their service - and they want the content badly - take 65% of the sales, for what hosting it?

C'mon, you know that doesn't sound like the right thing to do.

thinkfreemind

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> MS won't do marketing either. Distribution is basically free. The allure of digital distribution is that it is cheap. That's why it creates a better market than retail, where cost of goods and limited shelf space gimp variety and innovation.

MS made a great change by opening up XBL, but they are simultaneously screwing it up by being needlessly greedy. They can only do this because XBL doesn't have strong competetion, and XNA is unique.

doc_rob

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @ortegar: what marketing will MS do beyond a thumbnail on the marketplace? it's weird how many people think this is acceptable :p

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> BOO!!! BOO!!! BOOOOOO!!!!

I just downloadedthe XNA dev tools a couple of days ago, and was looking forward to getting into this... but WTF? That's a huge royalty cut! BOOOOOO!!!!

Highlander Wolf

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Seiryuu: Again Well said!

sauvage

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @darthmole12: Well MS did need to develop XNA, and they are the ones providing the means of distribution.
"I think 30% is more than enough to cover that." well that's just your guess, and lets not forget that MS is not a charity, they intend to make a nice profit off these ventures not just break even.

TheHun

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @TheHun: well considering the dev makes the game and microsoft just provides hosting for it, people think it's insulting that 65% of the profits should go to microsoft. it's like if a street artist got a permit to work in a precinct and the city council took 65% of his earnings.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @TheHun: It's one of those things where because it was offered they expected it permenantly and I think they should keep it up but from what I have seen from other posters 10% to 40% is the average royalty for indie devs so 35% isn't bad but MS should have it a bit higher in my opinion as they are a huge company and 50% should be managable for them.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Phenom88: Hear, Hear!

sauvage

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> 35% is a healthy percentage considering developers wont do the marketing and distribution.

ortegar

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Xerxes 8933A/A: Industry standard depends on your reputation and the success of your previous title. For newbiew coming into the game world it can be as low as 5%, but if you have some clout you might get 30% if you are lucky. Publishers take just about everything.

sauvage

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I find it very funny the reaction of tons of people that have no idea what the average prices are, or what this means to developpers.

Folks; the vast majority of you know nothing of development for such services. Neither do I.

The difference here is that I'm smart enough to realize it, and refrain from giving my two cents.

Guizzy

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @darthmole12: If 360 test kits are $1,000 then that's news to me. The small dev company I used to work for was getting them for around half that.

Toasticus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Now if only they could cut their failure rates in half.

Phenom88

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Why has Microsoft become so greedy this gen? They didn't used to be like this with the original Xbox Live system. Sure you had to pay to use the service, but nobody really cared because it works great. Now, I am still paying for the same service, but I have to see ads for movies, Mountain Dew and the Army everytime I want to play a game online (and it's on the dashboard for crying out loud, not even on just the Live Marketplace page).

They charge us for themes and gamer pictures instead of giving them to us for free. I mean, we pay the price of a full game every year to them for the service and they can't even let me create my own masterpiece of a background to look at because it would cut into the potential $2 for a background that isn't something I would pay for anyways. I can't help but feel like I am being nickeled and dimed to death every time I sign in.

Then when the service is down they give me that crappy Undertow game? "We can't let them use the 800 points to get a game that they would actually want to play" they must be thinking when they control us like that also. To be honest I am getting sick of it.

If indie developers stop making games for Microsoft, I wouldn't blame them at all. More power to them for trying to get their share. After all, that is what makes indie gaming so appealing to these game creators anyways.

thinkfreemind

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> So is 35% bad? To me it seems silly to jump all over MS without knowing actual figures and rates of competitors. perhaps the initial was 75% was just a way of encouraging developers to invest into xbl, and have now removed the subsidy.

So is this really "bad for devs" or was it "too good for devs" before?

TheHun

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Tepoz: XNA as someone else said is like $100 a year, and you don't need a dev kit for it, you just use your retail 360.

360 dev kits are ~$10k, test kits (almost like a retail with a few other features) are ~$1k. PS3 dev kits are ~$20k. There are also a lot of other restrictions on how they will actually sell them too (you have to be a licensed developer, which also costs some amount of money, no idea how much). No idea on Nintendo's price structure.

darthmole12

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> MS are just greedy bastards charging for every single little thing. They want devs to make content, yet they do this? It's disgusting.

Then you have people like Valve giving away publishing tools to devs FREE OF CHARGE

Lokku

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Mainstream developers rarely see royalties. Most of the deals they get mean that the game has to sell Halo number in order for them to see a red cent.

35% isn't bad. Sure it's not as good as 70%, but thats like saying 1 million dollars isn't as good as 2 million dollars. Either way, that's pretty $#!ty of MS.

bluestreak108

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Tepoz: I'm not sure but I heard XNA was a yearly subscription of $100 so should only cost 500 for 5 years.

@BlackDove: It's also fanboyish to launch attacks on particular companies due to your own preferances which is what I imagine you're doing. BTW Sony being in the exact same business, being worse liars and MS's rivals is what made them relevant and no one did mention it except ME.

@Kyle81: I told you the cost of dev kits not devloping a game.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @bluesquareapple: Do they use the same dev kits for psn games as for ps3 ones? You'd think thats two different licenses.

mrantimatter

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Xerxes 8933A/A: Microsoft and Sony make about ~$15-20 per $60 retail game sold. I'm not sure how much the store that sells it makes off of it, with the rest going to the publisher. So it's probably like 50%. Of that 50%, the developer themselves often see very little out of it. Most deals with a publisher typically have clauses which pay out royalties only if certain criteria are met (typically, the game has to sell over X units before profit sharing kicks in, and sometimes there's bonuses for things like reviewing well or w/ever).

70% seems like a pretty high number of royalties, but honestly I think that's actually pretty fair for XBLA distribution. All Microsoft is basically doing is paying for the bandwidth of the download and the testing/certification cost. I think 30% is more than enough to cover that. It's pretty lame if they are reducing it so low to 35%. It should be at least 50%.

darthmole12

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Tepoz:

XNA is free. it costs $99 to get into the XNA creators club and from there if your game is good enough MS can decide to put it up on XBLA.

hungry_for_worms

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Or, as Andrew Ryan so eloquently put it:

Is a man not entitled to the profits of his code?

No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to god.
No, says the man in Microsoft, it belongs to ME.

Seiryuu

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Xerxes 8933A/A:
That rate is for retail games, which developers are paid to make in the first place. A publisher contracts a developer to make a game, and pays them to do it. Usually as part of the contract the developer also gets a small royalty cut, which serves as incentive to make a great game. Sometimes developers opt for less cash up front for higher royalties later - and depending on the developers they might divey out those royalties to employees, or stick it in the bank to eventually fund their own IP.

XBLA games are (generally) not paid for by publishers - all the money made by the actual developers is through the royalties. So Microsoft taking a lions share of the profits is very sad - and really cuts the incentive to distribute across XBL.

But to Microsoft's own credit, they have opened up development on their platform - negating the usual developer fees for devkits/licensing, and aparently with the new XNA community stuff it looks like certification will be less strict.. and those two things alone are a good reason to at least give it a shot.

I would have prefered to see it stay at least at a 50/50 split though - its not right that Microsoft will make most of the profit off of work they didn't pay a dime for.


Bael

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Xerxes 8933A/A: Interesting. I'm also wondering what the standard is on PSN and Wii as others have asked?

@-Sigil-: How much is the developement kit for the 360/XNA?

Tepoz

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Meh, they should at leasr get 50%.

dgonchild

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81:

It's part of what we pay for, they made much more of a deal of it when the 360 came out and have since done nothing for it technically it is one of the benefits we pay for.

Morberis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81: The cost of development kits are a known number. It's quite the opposite of assuming.

bluesquareapple

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-:

Who gives a fuck about Sony? Did you see anyone mention Sony in this article? Do Sony's shitty pratices have any bearing on Microsoft being a bunch of junksluts?

Go fanboy someone else.

BlackDove

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Bad move for Microsoft. Here I was, thinking that the community games on XBLA was going to be positive. Already unraveling a good thing for the quest of uncountable amounts of money.

bluesquareapple

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: Your assuming the cost of developing PSN games now?

Kyle81

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Ill point out that, if: "At least one developer I spoke with said they were considering moving over to Sony and its Playstation Network in light of the cuts." that means that the royalties Sony pays are high enough t
o make the switch to a harder to develop for platform.

I guess they figure that if the XNA thing is a success, then they dont need popcap et all to release live arcade games anymore and would gladly screw them.

I think it will be a really sad day if MS actually gets to run the console business at some point. They seem to have no qualms whatsoever with screwing anyone and anything, shoddy RROD'ing console? Check, Pay for online matchmaking? Check, Pay for Skins\Wallpapers and messenger icons?, Check, in some games even pay for cheat codes? (Im looking at you EA), Check. Delay of Demos and other promotional content for non paying live members, Check

Screwing up the ass the people that stick up with you and support you giving you what edge you have in the first place the second you think you can do without them? (to me, the most damning of them all, actually.) Check.

If this is true (and from reports on a bunch of places it is) I think a lot of developers are going to give developing stuff for 360 (especially exclusives) a second look. I wonder if the regular game royalty will go down as well. Even if it doesn't, this sets a precedent about MS changing rates whenever they feel like it and might hinder development of regular titles as well.

Disclaimer!: Currently owner of a 360 and a Wii. Pretty underwhelmed by MS quality, service, customer support, and policies.

Seiryuu

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @nolifedopestar: My first post said that this sucks. it is bad for devs and I do dislike MS doing it but putting it to the average royalties of indie devs isn't exactly a demonic act. It's also quite premature to judge it without hearing what the other devs charge. PSN is good but small devs do have to pay 10,000 for the development kits on it.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> This is why Microsoft will never become the number worldwide console. Their business model has always been about getting userbase and then screwing people over. In the console world, with the userbase reseting every 4-6 years, people are never going to trust them. I mean they are cutting royalties and they don't even have global dominance.

HurricaneDave

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Morberis: You pay for timed exlusive for a couple demos? I really doubt it, especially since its something they only just recently started doing and only a few titles.

Only reason a person pays for Live is really just to play a game online. Everything else is given to a person, which s pretty sad since most live games are p2p and yet the only real bonus we get for paying is to be allowed to play online? We get pretty much everything else for free.

Kyle81

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81: So a one week exclusitivity is your idea of a total lock out?

Yeah but the cost of dev kits and XBLA registration are hugely different so it's hard to predict which is the better deal since it's either $100 a year or $10,000 upfront.

And it's obviously better but if it was only 45% or whatever it might not even help.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81:

PSN doesnt pay royalties. sony buys the rights to the game and pays the dev(s) 1 lump sum. it was on EGM a few months ago. it was either the guy who developed echochrome or everyday shooter that they were interbiewing.

hungry_for_worms

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: this post doesn't think that maybe erm sony were right about PSN being better for small devs?
accuse gentle microsoft of a misdeed? shame on you kotaku!

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> There's a lot of benefits to making games on PSN... its more than obvious now.

Thomaticus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wait who is saying that developing for PSN is even reasonable for an indie? Wasn't the dev kit crazy expensive?

To code for XBLA you just need to pay $99 a year, simple.

sisedi

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81:

Which is what we pay for, but silver members still get access to 99% of demos and all DLC and XBLA games at the same time

Morberis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @-Sigil-: Uhhhh Silver members have been locked out of several demos already. They eventually get them but they have been giving gold members timed exlusivity on stuff.

Also if a developer is saying they are considering going to PSN because of this, pretty obvious the royalties are better on the PSN.

Kyle81

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @NKato:

Well said.

On subject though this is total bs, even if 35% isn't bad the overall quality of games is going to go down because they have less money to invest in the project (because of less profit potential) while at the same time increasing the amount of mediocre titles.

Morberis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Sony doesnt have royalty fees cause they just buy the gmes fromd evelopers for 1 lump sum.

hungry_for_worms

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> To everyone claiming that 70% was too much, you have to understand this is royalties off XNA developed titles, the cheap stuff. Not big games from Capcom, they are taking money away from small indie developers. This is horrible!

If true you can imagine tons going over to the PSN since they offer a free development software aswell as better royalties now.

MS is trying to turn the industry into the music industry...

EGBTMagus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> grrr just reading through the comments I'm gonna need to get to a decontamination shower. the fanboy bomb's just exploded.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> For those who wonder, I read somewhere that the royality on Wiiware titles is about 65%

Daru

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @BlackDove: If you look at the post of Xerxes 8933A/A it's not so bad since that's around the average royalties. I do dislike it alot but to put it to an average isn't so bad. Do you know what Sony charges? Until you know what the other companies charge it's hard to call MS liers. Especially since Sony is the biggest liers of all time. E3 crap, other stuff and just recently claiming PSN is better than XBLA for small publishers because silver card members can't buy demoes even though they can.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> So so typical.
So so sad.

Arttemis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> wow MS is the new Sony.
2006 Sony that is.

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Internet portals that host indie games generally do 50%, and they do that without the QA, features of Live, advertisement on Live blades, XBLA customer service, etc.

Anyone know what PSN does?

Besides which, I thought for XBLA Arcade that 70% wasn't a standard, I thought it was up to 70%.

whiptcracker

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Fyren: Considering all that MS does is add it to live and QA, I can't see how letting the developer who shoulders all costs, and actualy made the thing, take 70% of of the is too much.

mrantimatter

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @pupaboy2: Your post makes no sense whatsoever.

brent_w

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, THAT'S why they were talking about "democratic whatever blah blah blah" at GDC. Because this makes them look like scumfucks. Which is what they are.

I guess it's a balancing act of lying, because the truth seems to be pretty grim.

BlackDove

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I KNEW IT! these companies are gonna screw the little guy in the end. just stick to making bitchin flash games or other pc things!

thejakeman has died of dysentry

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @pupaboy2: Fanboy. If you can't offer a moderate opinion on something and constantly call the 360 a dead console, then how about taking that Dual Shock 3 and sticking it up your bumhole? I'm quite tired of people arbitrarily saying that one or another console is "dead" when we're not even halfway through the current console generation. In about three to six years, we'll know which console is going to be the first to drop.

The rumored royalty cut move by Microsoft is just another nail that's being readied for the 360's coffin, that's all.

NKato

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Definitely a bad move, I could understand if they reduced the royalties to 50% but a cut of 35% is too much as they clearly must have at first believe the 30% they would have received was viable profit. They probably didn't miscalculate so bad. Anyway this sucks.

-Sigil-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> They made 125 million on selling stuff on Live so far, but lets screw the developers!

Kyle81

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Well - if this rumor is true then it nullifies all the warm, fuzzy community gaming rhetoric that MS was shoveling at their GDC keynote.

Is it just me or does MS seems to be stumbling over their own feet in terms of public relations this year. Quite a reversal from last year when Sony seemed to be f*cking up all the time.

rawg

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Personally, I think 75% was way too big to start with anyways. That is some handsome royalty checks.

I am more curious about the sales of the high profile xbla games. 10 bucks per game, at least a million sold. Indie Dev walks out with at least 5+ million?

Fyren

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Bad idea on Microsoft's part to do this IF TRUE. If true, you're going to see a lot of these games come over to PSN, if not already. Getting your paycheck cut in half would tick anyone off. Even so much as to leave the platform.

KingBroly

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Well, I WAS interested in developing something for MS this summer...Not so much now. (This isn't the only reason, though.) I dunno what we'll do platform-wise at this point.

TalKeaton

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> This is another example of how desperate microsoft is to save their sinking 360 ship. They have to suck the life out of the small independent developer. This just confirms that the 360 is a dead platform. Sony has it so right with the PS3.

pupaboy2

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Indie developers need money badly. If Microsoft is so willing to screw them over, then they do not deserve the support of indie developers.

I have just one thing to say to Microsoft in the event they are interested in anything I'm working on: Fuck off.

-NK

NKato

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Just when things were starting to pick up a bit. Well I guess now its sonys turn to make a mess, wonder what they'll do? Possibly announce an increase in price or bring back backwards compatibility . . .while removing bluray playback. I love the games industry, it's a wild place!

Verge

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> what the hell is microsoft's problem?

subterfunk

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> We can't figure out if 35% is good or bad until we know what the competition is doing. How much does Sony pay out in royalties?

Gina-get-u

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Wow that's really fucking weak. MS doesn't have enough money?

gils0n

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> If this is true...

Sounds like MS likes to kiss people before they fuck em at least ;)

-EDGE-

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Well, if they leave MS at least they will no longer be restricted by file size.

ProfWho

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I wouldn't be terribly upset if they went to psn, hopefully Sony gives a bit more. What I don't understand is why Microsoft seems set in screwing themselves. One step forward, two steps back I guess.

yourenzyme

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Found couple sites mentioning Dev Industry Royaly rates, raning from 10% to 40%. If these still hold true 35% isn't all that bad, near the top end. Still is a huge cut though.
[www.gamesinvestor.com]
[www.ifla.org.sg]

Xerxes 8933A

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> It's still just a rumour, but 70%? Really? 50% would already be quite high, but 70%?

mexxxant

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Microsoft seem to tout these amazing ideas then shoot themselves in the foot or don't follow through! This can't be doing them any good.

GOD

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @hahnchen: Unless MSFT raises the royalty, I am sure the indie's would jump ship to a platform that even offers 50%. Sans the few loyal indie devs who are faithful and was able to eat because of Live?

Fyren

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Well, if it's true, then there goes all that good press and buzz. Microsoft better have some clever PR maneuvering in store to counter this bad news ("We feel that the additional exposure makes up for the cuts", etc.).

KenzinFive

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Oops...and I thought Microsoft just gave us a GDC 08 barring the Rrods of course...

28121986

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> if this is true, itll be just one more thing to help '08 be the year of the playstation3.

stryker1800

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81: Try Macroshaft, this is big.

Honestly, what are you trying to pull? MS you EXPECT to get money for indie games? Come on, this is for the fans from the fans, not for your wallets!

huginn

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> I guess they feel that having lowered the barriers for entry, Microsoft will get even more content without having to pay as much. It's the quality of content that's going to suffer though, with established indie developers leaving for better pastures.

That being said, this is still a rumour. And I have no idea what royalties the creators receive on WiiWare and PSN.

hahnchen

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> @Kyle81: lmao @ that...

phrequency

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> remember the writers' guild strike? well here comes the indie game dev guild strike! it'll be a 40+ man raid =P

but yeah... that really sucks.

phrequency

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Microshaft

Kyle81

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> why is microsoft shooting itself in the foot? Hard download limits affecting downloadonly games (SF2HD, Bionic Commando, etc)

Now this? Giving developers a reason to jump ship to PS3

Wow they really are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

laterthanyou

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Huh, thats a big cut, but 70% is a large number to start out with. Perhaps at first they were thinking 70% of 1k isn't to much, but if these hit big that might be a huge loss. I assume MS acts as the publisher to these smaller devs? Whats the industry standard cut for publishers?

Xerxes 8933A

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Oh, Microsoft's doing something evil? Go figure

multimoog

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Greedy bastards. How do you go from 75 to 35?.

Fyren

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Well, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

PirateThom

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> Ms pulls it's money by being a suscription-based service, and the original royalty model encourages developers to make games for it. Cutting royalties in half will end up being a bad thing on both sides.

Islandkiwi

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> yeah, hope this is just a rumor, too. doesn´t come in a good moment, after the recent news i was pretty excited to get rolling on a xbox live game

tomsamson

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> one after another the dominoes keep falling

Rabid_Fanboy

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> 35%? Wow, no wonder no indie is interested in XNA...

Garo

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> If true, that's just awful. Why would they do something so drastic?

Toasticus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half]]> There's a good and bad for this all. Hopefully though, it's just a rumor

goldwings

]]>