Introversion: “It’s Unlikely that We’ll Work with Microsoft Again”

Mark Morris – the business mind behind Introversion – has declared at GDC that he doesnt believe the team would ever work alongside industrial giant Microsoft in the future.

[aviator189]

"but they don’t back it up with sales.”

So, I guess the 360 audience has something to do with the low sales..

Even though ms offered promotions and deal of the week discount for the games, I don't see how Introversion can blame ms for not being able to back it up with sales..

[Mystogan]

WTF is Darwinia and Multiwinia?

ow googled it now i see, you can't get sales if your game sucks duhh.. they sold more on steam probably because it was cheaper and PC has a wider audience.

[bozebo]

@Mystogan
yeah steam has a bigger audience and there is much more consumer confidence on the platform, people are willing to pay a small amount with the risk a game might be bad - which is usually due to it being a console port anyway

[atticus14]

so by "googling" you can conclude that the game sucks. nice.

[HowarthsNJ]

Right, XBLA Vs Steam. Why is Steam cheaper?

[kingdavid]

Darwinia doesnt suck you noob.

[NeutralGamer]

Hey man Darwinia was a great game!
Only reason I didnt get it for 360 was because I like to play the game with mouse and keyboard -.-

[blackmagic]

So they are upset because microsoft made them work out all the bugs before they would put it on xbla then, even though microsoft promoted it, it didn't sell well?

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

DARWINIA IS OLD AS FUCK. I have seen it on steam For years and yeas now. I dont think it would sell that much when you could probably get it on steam for cheap as hell for years now.

and these games are made to be played on PC.

[Anon1974]

The guys who made Super Meat Boy just finished saying the exact same thing. They commented that Microsoft was a nightmare to work with and they've seen far more sales on Steam then they have with XBL for whatever reason.

Developers have had a hard time cracking the 360 market in the past. Just look at what happened to Banjo Kazooie, or Alan Wake. Looking at what games sell on the 360, I think it's a fact that 360 owners know what they like and what they want. Limbo ended up being on quite a few game of the year lists, but how did it fair in sales?

By contrast, Steam just has a broader audience. That's not a slight against the 360, it's just that you have to know your market.

[nnotdead]

“Do we regret working with Microsoft?” said Morris. “No, but it’s unlikely we’ll work with them again …"

it seems like he(they?) just don't feel it was worth the time or investment to bring it to the 360.

[MrBeatdown]

It comes down to marketing. MS controls a lot of what the user sees on their 360.

I have no clue what MS did or didn't do, but if they are going to demand certain standards beyond what the developer believes is adequate, they should reward that extra effort by marketing the game well. This guy seems to think MS didn't do that.

[ChristianGamer]

He just said that they marketed them but failed to back it up with sales. As if microsoft are going to force their install base to buy the games!
Microsoft do not back up anything with sales, the 360 audience does that. If these guys had their way we'd all have unwanted game trials queued on to our consoles lol...better yet, the full game purchased already without our consent

[MrBeatdown]

There is a difference between marketing and good marketing.

All he said was that they put it into the deal of the week section. Sounds like it was pretty ineffective, so I wouldn't classify that as good marketing.

There is far more MS can do besides chucking it into the discount bin for a week. They were able to do well on Steam, so obviously the game can sell if it is marketed well.

[MrBeatdown]

Wow. I see the Microsoft Defense Force is out in full swing, and like usual, can do nothing beside disagree without backing it up.

Sure, Microsoft has marketing email, dashboard advertisements, and Xbox.com at their disposal, but sticking the game into the Deal of the week section months after it is released is clearly good enough. It's entirely the game's fault that it didn't sell well. I guess that means Steam is run by miracle workers who could sell ice to Eskimos.

[ActivistBike]

I was looking forward to this game from the trailers, but once I got my hand on the demo I felt let down. Then the price right off the bat was 1200 MSP if I remember correctly, pretty pricey!

[Inside_out]

.
...lets blame the publisher after all they make the game right???...O_o

This is a pretty dumb decision on the part of this dev or any other dev out there. Keep it to your self dumba33...why burn a bridge for no reason. XBL has many massive hits...make a game people want, they will buy it. It wouldn't matter what system your game is on, if the demographic of that system is not interested, then they're not interested.

" XBLA were good to us and put us in the deal of the week, but it had no impact. Steam promotion was an order of magnitude better.”

They were good to you, put you in the deal of the weak but it STILL didn't sell well huh...lol...maybe, just maybe your game isn't as hip as you think...lol

[Redgehammer]

I am one of the people that bought Darwinia on the 360(day one), and to be honest I was not that impressed. I am not sure who the fault goes to in that, me for not getting it; or Introversion for not making a very fun game.

[DangerTick]

Microsoft kills studios just look at FASA & Rare.

[kaveti6616]

RARE died while with Nintendo.

Don't blame MS for Rare.

Blame them for Ensemble.

[eggbert]

Your right, they died shortly before the sale to Microsoft. Tired of seeing people posting that microsoft killed them, they didn't, RARE just died on its own. Microsoft got the short straw in the deal though since they had payed a VERY VERY large amount for RARE thinking their game quality would remain constant.

[bozebo]

the thing about rare is that the talent were what made them good.

when the talent left and made free radical, rare became just a name with some IP

maby we can blame ubisoft for destroying free radical though

now that the talent are with crytek they will be forced to make another bad game probably, instead of making TS4 which is what everybody wants

[nunley33]

It has become quite obvious that it was NINTENDO that made RARE good and without it their work has suffered. Maybe they can still revive them but i wanna see if MS can have the same positive effect on them that NINTY had on them.

[palaeomerus]

So how come the talent that supposedly left to form Free Radical weren't that good themselves then?

[FLOWCity]

Never heard of those games...

[sp1deynut]

Seriously... who the f*** are these guys, and why are they blaming MS for sh*tty sales for their sh*tty games???

[outlawlife]

I don't see how MS making you work for better production value is bad

this just sounds like someone with sour grapes because their game didn't sell

[GusBricker]

Make games I actually want to play first, then complain when I don't buy your shit. Thanks.

[hellzsupernova]

was your game a shooter? no? that is why it did not sell well on the 360

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

they have been on PC for a long time and they were made to be played on a PC.

MS cant guarantee sales for any game, especially a port of a PC game that was made to be played with a mouse.

[DeFFeR]

Don't feed the trolls.

[Adolph Fitler]

They may have offered it as a special of the week....but you could offer Bruce Lee the videogame & Ico 2: Revenge of the collossus as specials, but because most everybody has heard of Bruce Lee, & like Ico nobody has heard of the sequel & it doesn't sound like a videogame, let alone a good one to the casual consumer as opposed to Mortal Gears of Modern Battlefields or Unreal soldier makes bad German Nazi Quake in his boots of Destruction. Also it is more than likely that there games were not offered as deals of the week upon launch day.

In my opinion it seems that MS has mismanaged & screwed up more development houses than is neccessary. Oddworld Inhabants regretfully switched teams from great success as a exclusive developer for Sony's PS1 over to the Xbox & released what seemed to be a rushed 1st game in Munch's Odysee (which was pretty ordinary compared to other 3d platformers like Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank on PS2, & even PS1, N64 & Saturn games in same genre). They then released Strangers Wrath, but there reputation had already taken a hit for sub-standard Munch.
But the biggest problem was that they made the switch at the worst time as they switched at the end of a gen, ready to start anew, also they were switching at a time when some developers like themselves had little to no experience with 3d, as all previous Abe PS1 games were awesome 2d side scrollers with state of the art graphics, awesome sound & unique in every department none moreso than story. For this reason they had a large fanbase that were PS1 owners, & most wouldn't make a console switch till much, much & (for the most casual) much later down the line when machines are at cheapest, with largest library of games, the others that bought up early, especially launch & close to gamers, were the hardcore that usually had a preffered brand,& in this regard Sony had TOO many awesome IP's for the new kid on the block to compete with, hence Abe was never gonna sway a large base alone. I could not understand why the hell Oddworld Inhabants switched to MS exclusively, when they should have gone multiplat for MS, Sony & possibly even Nintendo if Ninty gave them a better deal with all the catridge rip off scam they played with NES, SNES & N64, or at least just Sony & MS, then switch to MS exclusively when they have gathered a following that unsures success as an MS exclusive developer. They just did it so dumb that it pains me, as they literally left the business. But not before MS sold them off to EA after Munch failed at the cash register. If Sony played by MS's rules, then Shadow of the Collosus would not be, & games like Motormstorm & Resistance, etc, etc, wouldn't have been, as Sony would have pressured them for another WRC & Ratchet on launch, and Sony encouraged Evolution & Insomniac to make new IP's. Awesome in my book for the developer as they feel they have complete artistic & creative freedom, so the games ends up better for it in most cases as quality exudes in these titles due to passion & the fact the developers do not feel trapped, as there over bearing "owners" force them to make Halo 4 by September 2011, or COD5 by September.

[Adolph Fitler]

Continued from senseless, mad, insane, luney tune rant above>

Back to point....Unless you have made MS the next hugely mainstream, hugely marketetable, Beers of Swar, then MS don't give a toss about your XBL exclusive....all they want you to do is make a decent downloadable game at your expense & they will throw it up on the marketplace, along with the 1000's of other (often over looked) arcade titles. Now if you want a good marketing stategy, then MS says good luck. Now Sony need a boot up the ass in this department as well,s shown how they did no favors for Insomniac, especially with the awesome sequel to there awesome Resistance series by throwing it out amongst at least 2 other giants in the same genre at the same time, one being Killzone 2 & the other a COD game I think)......But is Sony's defence though, at least they offer the pub scheme thingy where they offer PSN developers the same money they have spent on there game, to either make the game even better production wise, or to give the game a good marketing push, due to decent $$$ being spent on advertising & other smart, aggressive, hype assaults to lure consumers in.

[davidrx7]

resistance 2 came out in Nov 08, KZ2 came out in Feb 09, but your right that sony could have marketed a lot of their games better, I mean KZ3 just came out and ive seen one commercial for it

[TheDivine]

No way sony markets more than anyone. I seekz3 ads all day long. I see move ads everyday. People say sony doesnt market but thats an excuse. They do, ALOT. They had far more commercials for move than kinect. They marketed the hell out of uncharted 2 i saw 12 commercials everyday. Marketing got the ps3 where it is now, without the onslought of ads it wouldve sold way less.

[Redgehammer]

You are certainly right about that being a rant..:-)

[Bluemaster77]

Im not understanding why they expected microsoft to go the extra mile for them , what makes them special in comparison to the other indie developers who produce games for XBLA. It doesnt matter attempting to exclude a market due to emotion is terrible business practice seems like a rookie move

[hellzsupernova]

not if it sold so badly that they lost money on it.

[Haseo106]

They should not work with Activision either, because they are Greedy B*tches too.
They should work with Sony, EA,or Ubisoft

[turgore]

I tried that game on steam a while ago. It is one of the worst games i ever played.

[lochdoun]

Good.
Darwinia sucked ass.
Keep your shitty games off my system.

[DelbertGrady]

Games like Darwinia and Multiwinia have a much bigger audience on the PC platform than on consoles.

[therapist]

there are way more people on steam than xbox360

xbox360 at 17-19 million

Steam at 30-35 million

plus all games are cheaper on steam, have wayyyy better graphics and run better

xboxlive is so 2005

[SuicideShaun]

Not just xbox.

[Breadisgood]

It's a strategy game on a console....need I say more?

[Obama]

for a 360 game to sell, it has to have a huge amount of gunfight or battles otherwise the sales would be underwhelming like alan wake and tales of vesperia.

[DeFFeR]

What game doesn't have "a huge amount of gunfight or battles" that sells a lot?