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Your email address will not be published.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 256: AAAA ExperienceEpisode 256: AAAA Experience

This week’s Gaming Podcast gets down and dirty, with plenty of AAAA goodness. The Darkness II contest is still going on this week, and winners will be announced next week.

In the meantime:

  • Analyst predicts 66M iPad sales in 2012
  • Diablo III gets May 15 release date
  • Epic: Next gen console launch titles will probably use Unreal Engine 3
  • Microsoft looking for executive producer to work on an “AAAA” Xbox title
  • Wasteland 2 aiming for October 2013 release date

All that, plus Reader Feedback.

Episode 402: One and a Half EpisodesEpisode 402: One and a Half Episodes

This episode is so long, we actually had to cut on of the stories that went too long. We get some listener feedback for Scott as well.

The news includes:

  • EA data leak on Pastebin exposes emails and passwords
  • Adobe confirms major Flash vulnerability
  • Report: Nintendo’s next platform NX combines console and handheld
  • Remaining Batman Arkham Knight Season Pass content revealed
  • EA: Remakes happen when you’re ‘out of ideas
  • Bandai Namco pulls plug on Rise of Incarnates
  • Analyst: Preorders drive more sadness than anticipation

Let us know what you think.

Episode 238: No Free PornEpisode 238: No Free Porn

This week’s episode is also abbreviated, as Jordan is somewhere in Pennsylvania looking for a gingerbread house while Paul is still trying to pack his entire NES library into a single suitcase. Jonah and Paul still got in enough time to do a Gaming Flashback on Thief: The Dark Project, and the following news items:

All this and Reader Feedback, too, as well as a new Question of the Week, “If you have the opportunity to read or view a highly anticipated game’s story months before it was released, would you do it or would you deliberately turn it away to preserve yourself from spoilers?” Let us know!