Microsoft’s proprietary virtual currency system, Microsoft Points, will be phased out by the end of the year, according to a source with knowledge of the company’s decision. The change will affect developers for Windows Phone, the Zune marketplace and Xbox Live.
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A look into the sad trajectory of indie games from high successful releases to complete irrelevancy in just a few weeks or months.
That's the thing with gaming there's always new experiences to have why spend months or years playing a single game when there's a new experience right around the corner.
Indie or AAA if your building your game expecting long term player counts you'll probably be disappointed as gamers often enjoy something for a few weeks and move on only to return if it's truely a classic.
Out of all the generations I've experienced there's games from 30 plus years ago I still dust off and play like super Mario bros, earthbound, vice city and san Andreas being games I treasure and revisit every few years but I'm not going back to play a game designed to keep me engaged for months on end because it's also designed to milk my wallet in most cases.
Build a great game that people love make it playable offline and ask does it matter if the concurrent player count is under 100 a year post launch more often that not it doesn't
The price of entry is too high to take chances like I used to. Was looking at V Rising and that ranges from $50-$130 CAD. That’s a lot for an indie imo. By the time it goes on sale, the player count might be dwindling. But that’s the trade-off, I guess.
GL: "Staff writer Shaz reflects on his small library of physical games he's kept throughout the decades, and how a recent move made him nostalgic."
I lost my drive for collecting physical games due to many discs lacking the whole complete game. Instead, of collecting games I started collected figurines.
I am a collector have a room dedicated with a couple original arcade cabinets, physical game library, old and new consoles and controllers backlit with LED lighting. It’s very cool to have but with emulation being so strong and prevalent, I sometimes feel foolish because the hobby is expensive and like another said, the full game is not always on the disc. Could probably spend more wisely but I enjoy it.
Not sure why they would. Using points gets rid of that feeling when you know you have spent £10 or so on a downloadable item. Its nice for the users to use real money (ease of use) but for Microsoft I would have thought it would be more beneficial to use points
If its true, its about damn time.
I don't care to be honest, kinda prefer points since don't have to attach any credit card to my account,maybe you gonna be able to buy vouchers with $ nomination ?
I should be able to pay/buy exact amounts that I want... I hate having random left over s#!t
Points piss me off, especially when you're only allowed to purchase a set number of points, which often ends in you being forced to purchase additional points you won't ever use. Why this hasn't created lawsuits, I'll never understand.