In the aftermath of yesterday's reveal of Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One, news is slowly continuing to trickle out of Microsoft HQ - although this one will undoubtedly catch a lot of people off-guard. The Xbox Live Arcade, which debuted on the original Xbox, before finding its footing on the Xbox 360 as the home of small, accessible downloadable games, will be scrapped for the Xbox One - although that's not to say the games themselves will be going anywhere.
On the Xbox 360, the Xbox Live Arcade was home to some of the console's greatest titles. At a cheaper price point (there used to be a ceiling of 1200 points, or £10), with its own little section on the Xbox Marketplace, the XBLA was, in its heyday, a hive of creativity and risk taking, where smaller ideas, or more risky games could try their luck, without having to have a multi-million pound advertising campaign behind them. From point and clicks like Sam and Max, to puzzle games like Bejeweled Blitz, the XBLA was one of the highlights of the system - although as time went on, things slowly began to change. The prices crept up, the games increased in scope, the puzzle games practically died off entirely, and the line between full price retail game and XBLA download became blurred. And now, Microsoft has announced that it's going to be scrapping the category for the Xbox One altogether.
What will become of Sam and Max?
Fortunately for XBLA fans, the disappearance of the category may be more of a formality than a distinct change of direction. Whereas the online marketplace used to be divided into full games, Xbox Live Arcade, and Indie Games, now it'll be something of a free for all under the general "games" category, with downloadable version of retail games sitting side by side with download only games. Whether it means the Xbox Live Arcade - or presumably Xbox One Download Games as they'll likely be called will be less of a priority for Microsoft now remains to be seen (the company used to promote several special offers on new Arcade releases through the year) - although judging by the policies that are being put in place, we're not holding our breaths for an Xbox Live Arcade revival.
One of the biggest problems facing a developer who wanted to get their game on the Xbox 360 was Microsoft's set of rules. If you wanted to release a game on the Xbox Live Arcade, you couldn't just self-publish and submit to Microsoft directly - instead, you had to have the backing of a major publisher, who'd already released a disc based game on the Xbox 360. It was this policy that saw the Xbox 360 missing out on several games made by smaller studios - games which the Xbox Live Arcade was originally intended to support - which instead became PS3 exclusives, like oddball platformer Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, and Telltale's point and click Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse. It's worth noting that both Sony and Nintendo allow developers to self-publish - which is why it's a bit disappointing that things apparently aren't set to change for the Xbox One, as developers will still require the backing of a major publisher to get their games on the Xbox One Marketplace, potentially meaning the Xbox One will be missing out on dozens of games, again.
With Microsoft's new console having a strong focus on TV, and the Xbox Live Arcade seemingly being relegated to the scrapheap, questions marks are starting to be raised about who the console's aiming for. We'll likely know for sure in just a few weeks time, as we head into the world's largest gaming convention, E3.
