As a follow up to my earlier post about the Xbox 360 dashboard update sidelining indie developers, a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer that actual move of indie games into the “Specialty Shops” area actually helps indie developers.
Their reasoning behind this was that the “Specialty Shops” section allows indie games a “full marketplace experience.” This is because having it “alongside other popular channels like the Avatar Marketplace” gives it more visibility as “since the launch of Avatars, Xbox Live members have made more than 290 million customizations to their Avatar’s clothing.” The indie games section also has 50 games listed in the Top Rated and Top Downloaded lists instead of the usual 20 thus giving more games exposure.
Although the reasoning sounds good, whether this move actually pans out for indie developers will have to be seen.
Source: Eurogamer
