XBLA’s Braid Needs More Sales

XBLA offers great opportunities for the indy developer but everything comes at a price. Over the last three years Braid‘s developer Jonathan Blow spent a reported $180,000 to create the popular Braid title on Xbox Live. He’s going to need a lot more sales before he can celebrate the highly valued, highly reviewed title.

The Independent Games Festival was kind to him, giving him the “Innovation in Game Design” back in 2006, since then he’s put his money where is mouth is; his own money. There are good times and bad times when you’re discovering your dreams. The reviews surely made him feel great about the work he has done over the last three years but a review won’t pay the bills.

It may be a hard road ahead for Jonathan, hopefully at least breaking even on the project. Although he may not look back at the game as a financial success we can only imagine he’ll have a lot easier time getting funding or publishing for his next title, if that’s the path he chooses.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

0 thoughts on “XBLA’s Braid Needs More Sales”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 583: #MeToo in VideogamesEpisode 583: #MeToo in Videogames

The latest sexual harassment scandal rocks, and things are not steady with the developer. Bad puns aside, the industry continues to have to grow up from dude-bro heaven to actual places of business.

All that, as well as the following news items:

  • Batman: Arkham studio accused of failing to prevent sexual harassment
  • Spelunky 2 is now on Steam with an updated release window
  • Nintendo’s next Switch indie presentation tomorrow
  • 7.5 million players claimed a free copy of Total War Saga: Troy

Let us know what you think.

Episode 639: Live Games ServiceEpisode 639: Live Games Service

The crew gets excited about the announcement of The Wolf Among Us 2, although it won’t be out for a while, and bemoan the infestation of live service games everywhere these days in videogames.

The news includes:

  • PlatinumGames pivoting to live service games
  • Rockstar announces Grand Theft Auto 6 in a tweet
  • Tim Schafer doesn’t want Psychonauts or any other Double Fine game turned into a movie

Let us know what you think on Gaming Podcast’s Facebook page here.

Episode 418: Potter RageEpisode 418: Potter Rage

This week’s episode runs pretty long as TJ Denzer returns from his bowling trip. Scott goes ballistic over the Harry Potter franchise with Twilight, and other than that, a lot of pop culture discussion.

This week’s news includes:

  • Nintendo deletes every stage by prominent Mario Maker speedrunner
  • Telltale’s take on Batman will be M-rated, launches this summer
  • Original Diablo design docs show it was to be a classic turn-based rogue-like
  • 30 launch titles for Oculus Rift revealed, each with “Comfort” ratings
  • Mass Effect developer wore new IP on T-shirt, says no one noticed

This week’s Question of the Week, “What game editors have you used?”