Press Play: Microsoft wants "unique", "weird" indie games for Xbox Live

Is the "microstudio" approach key to winning the next gen indie battle?

Indie developers! There's been a lot of light on them lately, thanks to rhetoric at certain console reveal events and the continuing befuddlement of so-called AAA gaming at large. Microsoft attracted censure this spring by discontinuing the XNA toolset on which all Xbox Live Indie Games are built, but according to Press Play's co-founder Mikkel Thorsted, nurturing and supporting independents remains a key priority for Xbox.

The manufacturer acquired Press Play in June 2012, not long after snapping up Twisted Pixel, developer of The Gunstringer. Speaking to OXM in our latest issue, on sale now, Thorsted explained how the acquisition came about. "Microsoft was after people who could do unique content and make weird games, but it also needed a team that wasn't huge, that hadn't made breakout hits," he said. "Because they would be [expensive]! It was looking for a team with the potential to make weird stuff. We were one of the very few. A perfect match."

Press Play is seven years old, and is the developer of hit Windows Phone 7 exclusive Tentacles. The forthcoming platform adventure Max and the Curse of Brotherhood will be its first Xbox 360 release. According to Thorsted, working on a single platform has "allowed us to focus on what is important: the gameplay". There's been little meddling from above over the course of the project, he says - "as long as [our Microsoft Games Studios manager] can see we've thought about what we're doing he's always backing us".

"For us, it's very important that what Microsoft offered was what they call a microstudio approach," Thorsted continued. "They didn't want to touch who we are, what we do or how we do things. But they wanted to support what we were doing, and for us that wiped away everything that was negative about being indie - it gave us the chance to do greater games and not be worried about economics while we do it."

Pick up a copy of our new issue for the full story on Press Play and Max. You can buy the mag online with free postage, download a copy for iPad from Apple Newsstand, or get hold of an Android-friendly version from Zinio. Alternatively, take out a subscription for a free copy of Hitman Absolution: Professional Edition.

Video: Announcement trailer for Max: The Curse of Brotherhood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NZuvfourorE

http://www.oxm.co.uk/54103/press-play-microsoft-wants-unique-weird-indie-games-for-xbox-live/

Good news. MS loves buying up XBLA centric developers.

Personally, I think most indie games lately have been rather a bit overrated. There are certainly some gems out there, but I find most of them rather mediocre.

That aside though, it's always nice to see more unique games, be they large or small titles, and I certainly appreciate the option of having them

They are all feeling like the same..

'2D platformer with some unique artstyle' = hyped up like crazy.  I am also getting tired of them.

Still looking forward to The Curse of Brotherhood

I've only bought a few Indie games off the marketplace and none of them were memorable. Glad they only cost 80 to 200 MS points.

Indie games are overrated. There are about 10 good games for this entire generation.

Minecraft
Meatboy
Braid
Limbo
Trials
Mark of the Ninja
Geometry Wars
Journey
Castle Crashers

come to my mind... and I only bought a handful of them.
How indie these games really are is up to you.

Indie developers are even worse than their games. They talk so much crap and actually want to influence the consoles they are making games for. A successfull indie game sells 200k - 500k units lifetime for $10. This is just peanuts for the ecosystem of a console.

Isn't Mark of the Ninja a Xbox Arcade game? 

most of them are, but were made by indie developers. That is why I said that it is up to you to decide, how indie they are.

Those are the games that Sony gets, goes for and makes