14 DAY TRIAL // Xbox Live Arcade has been criticized by a number of smaller developers because of how difficult it can be to get a game included but the executive in charge of selecting the content that gamers get from XBLA has said that the process assures a high quality for the released titles.
Chris Charla, who is the portfolio director working on Xbox Live Arcade, told Gamasutra that, “With XBLA, we've consciously developed a curated portfolio. You need a Publisher License Agreement to release games on the service and, practically speaking, that means that developers either need to go through a third-party publisher or Microsoft Studios.”
He added, “The net result is that our customers know that every XBLA game is measured to the same bar - that the quality of games that indies like Signal Studios or Haunted Temple Studios bring us continues to get better and better, so the bar is always getting higher to get on the platform.”
Charla went on to say that the process that Microsoft has developed guarantees that the best video games are released on the XBLA and that there's no drop in quality that could drive away some players.
The executive also suggested that while some indie developers might switch to PC based services like Steam, which have lower barriers of entry, or switch their allegiance to the PlayStation 3 and Sony most of them are still interested in putting their games out on XBLA because of the large audience that Microsoft can guarantee.
The indie gaming space has been very dynamic during the last few years, leading to hits like Minecraft, and pushing publishers like Electronic Arts, Sony and Microsoft to recruit a number of smaller developers.
Microsoft promotes smaller titles through its Summer of Arcade initiative and recently Sony announced a similar PSN Play promotion.