Braid creator: Sony takes more risks than MS with indie game choices

The creator of XBLA smash Braid has claimed that most Xbox Live Indie Games are "not very good" - and that Sony is less "conservative" than Microsoft when it comes to picking titles for PSN.

Jonathan Blow's Braid was released on XBLA back in August 2009 to great commercial and critical success. It finally came to PS3 in December last year.

Speaking to Edge Magazine, Blow claimed that although it is easier for indie developers to get their games on Xbox Live, Sony seems to approve riskier, more "artful" titles.

"Microsoft has provided the lower barrier to entry with Xbox Live Indie Games, but most of them are not very good - I don't think that's a controversial statement," said Blow.

"So if you're thinking about the impact of indie games on the whole forum of games then probably Sony has done more because of the way they curate the games they put on there - they're actually looking for games that are artful or experimental.

"I mean, they published Linger In Shadows; Microsoft would never have done that - that's not even really a game. XBLA is more conservative than PSN but it still has a larger audience so it's much more commercially feasible, as long as you can get your game noticed - which is getting harder over time, but is still possible."

Blow added: "Some of the stuff Microsoft signs and publishes on XBLA is pretty bad; some of it is very good. Super Meat Boy is obviously a really good game. I wish they had promoted that more heavily, but Live Arcade is part of a bureaucratic machine, which is part of a bigger bureaucratic machine and so on - what more can they do?"

Although Blow said that Braid was released during a "big time of optimism" for indie devs with games on XBLA - a year which also saw the release of Trials HD and Shadow Complex - he now believes "the majority of games released on XBLA recently, most of them tank, they lose money".

Blow's new title, The Witness, is due for release on PS3 and 360 next year. However, Blow revealed that he had not signed any business deals for the game because he doesn't "know what the business climate is going to be like [post-release]".

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=281445?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

Already debunked by the interveiwee

http://the-witness.net/news/?p=701

and a thread here on it:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=121774&page=1&str=388242836#

I say we let this one die

Recently, on a visit to England, Chris Hecker and I did an interview with Edge magazine. It was a long interview where we spoke freely on many topics, while having a good time. Afterward, the interviewer and the editors of Edge did a very good job editing down the interview and distilling it into its salient points, without distorting the substance of the discussion.

The final result is published in Edge issue 223. I am very happy with it. It is probably my favorite interview I have done during my 15 years in the game industry. I thank Edge for the opportunity to do the interview and for their hard work in writing it up.

Because I like the interview so much, I should be happy when other news sites spread the word about it, right? Apparently it is not so. CVG just published online an article about the interview titled

Braid creator: Sony takes more risks than MS with indie game choices

They fill out their article by pasting in somewhat-out-of-context quotes to support this statement (and nothing else). To believe their account, it was a highly anti-Microsoft and pro-Sony interview. [I am not going to link to CVG's article, because I don't want to give them hits; go find it on a search engine if you want to see it.]

CVG’s article is a deceptive, manipulative piece of sensationalist crap meant to drive hits by stoking the argument between Sony fans and Microsoft fans. It misrepresents the content of the interview almost entirely. (Chris Hecker, who was half the interview, doesn’t even appear in their write-up. This alone should make it clear that they have no interest in truthful and accurate communication.)

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll get the Mods to lock this one.

Locked by OP's request