14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft didn't really like the idea of XBLA and it believed that it would be harmful to the console concept and games sold on this platform.
XBLA or the Xbox Live Arcade is a service provided to Xbox 360 users. The focus of this program is small games, usually from independent developers, although big publishers would also use XBLA. For some reason, when the new Xbox One hit the market, the XBLA feature didn't survive.
It was discussed at the time of the launch, and that was pretty much it. The official stance of Microsoft is that Xbox One doesn't differentiate between regular games and indie games. Everyone has the same chance. It sounds great in theory, but in practice the truth is that small games are getting buried in the store and only major studios have the money to keep their titles in the forefront.
XBLA should return
The creator of XBLA, Greg Canessa, talked to IGN and he had a really interesting insight into how Microsoft is thinking. And it's not good news.
“There was a legitimate fear that Xbox Live Arcade was going to cannibalize retail sales and completely destroy the console industry. That was actually a quote I got from one of the internal folks. Microsoft was afraid five and ten-dollar price points would destroy the economic model of console retail publishing and destroy the industry,” said Greg Canessa.
It's no longer a mystery why there is no XBLA on Xbox One. It's quite likely that reasoning has survived inside Microsoft. Recently there has been a resurgence in the requests for the revival of XBLA, but the company has yet to make any kind of statement on this issue.
If we take a closer look at the Steam model, we can easily see that their possible reasoning is wrong and that the addition of an XBLA-like service would actually help them in the long run.