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The Indie Games Winter Uprising, an a union of Xbox Live Arcade indie developers, has declared its intention to improve the overall quality of indie games available on Microsoft’s online service.
14 studios have joined the group, whose games will all launch in the first week of December and co-promoted by each firm.
"If you thought that the XBox Live Indie Games service was just filled with massage apps, clones, and garbage, think again," said Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games, whose title Cthulhu Saves the World is featuring among the union’s releases.
"We are fighting back against mediocrity and lameness in the best way we know how – by releasing amazing games," he added.
The titles constitute a mix of established and new indie developers.
The ‘Indie Games’ category on XBLA has been on the move recently, having been taken from its original position in the ‘Games and Demos’ section of the Xbox Marketplace and placed further back in ‘Specialty Shops’.
After two rounds of complaints from indie devs, the category made its way back the way it had come.
Now the members of the Indie Games Winter Uprising are looking to make further steps
Ian Stocker of MagicalTimeBean, whose title Soulcaster 2 is also featuring in the group’s December releases, outlined the relation between the group and the reputation of Indie Games on XBLA.
“The concept grew from a conversation I had with Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games at the start of this month. This was when we were first displaced on the dashboard and sales were in the gutter,” he explains on his blog.
“I asked him if he wanted to release Cthulhu at the same time that I released Soulcaster II, so we could do some cross promotion. The sales issue on XBLIG is due to lack of traffic, not someone deciding how he’s going to spend his $3 monthly gaming budget.
“Robert was into the idea and thought we should take it to the next level. If we coordinate two releases, why not coordinate 12? Let’s see who’s releasing something exciting in the next month and get them on board. We decided to focus on high quality, non-avatar games for this event, to put our best foot forward to the gaming community.
“More traffic = more sales = more revenue for Microsoft = increased likelihood of promoting Indie Games on the dashboard. That’s the theory at least.”
