Disclaimer: Granted I will say that yes I am biased and the below examples apply to my console of choice. You may view this as furthering my personal agenda. But that said, the very same dilema can occur to your console and I truly mean well, so hear me out.
We typically seperate games made for digital distribution and games made specifically for retail. Games like Geometry Wars or Fat Princess, naturally couldn't be on the same pedestal as high budget retail games like Halo or Uncharted. That is how the system worked/works and we generally are fine with this. Granted this has no impact on the games individual quality but I digress.
X1 has a dilema in that it has 2 games, one all ready out, made specifically for digital, yet do not have indie budgets. These are games that can easily be considered on the same level as exclusive retail offerings if they were made so in reality. I am talking about Killer Instinct and Project Spark, both free-to-play digital titles.
I am aware that gamers are slow to change, both in action but especially in perception IMO. I mean we typically view free-to-play with much negativity due to the concept being so foreign to us console gamers. But I honestly can't put Killer Instinct on the same level as Halo: Spartan Assault or Max: Curse of the Brotherhood. I especailly won't compare Project Spark to indie titles. All though both are digital based in their distribution and have no retail channel to be sold, they are clearly bigger budget and more ambitious.
Killer Instinct is supposed to be active during the entire life cycle of the X1 and become slowly updated with time, improving and changing as the X1 ages with it. This isn't a release-and-forget-in-two months indie release. This is the dedicated exclusive fighter for Xbox One. Project Spark has a ton of potential and is garnering a fair amount of buzz. Many naturally compare it to Little Big Planet because.....you know, rivals. But I fear that many people will simply dismiss Project Spark because of its method of distribution and being free-to-play. If it gets a high 80's or even 90+ meta, just because its sales can't be tracked and its revenue stream is unorthodox to our traditions, will it be discarded by opposing fans?
This is going to happen more and more this gen, where we will have "exceptions" to the digital rule. Again, I personally can not group these 2 games or any ambitious digital title to any indie game just because they aren't available at a physical store. What do you think?
Xbox: Best hardware, Game Pass best value, best BC, more 1st party genres and multiplayer titles.
