Xbox Live Arcade no longer a casual play
When the Xbox Live Arcade was introduced, Microsoft presented it in such a way that it was to be about casual play. It was for the people who wanted to revisit their glory days in the Arcade and more importantly for those who had a few hundred points to spend. Remember those days when Arcade titles were 400 Microsoft Points? It was the perfect price for those impulse purchases wasn’t it? Even the ones that came in at 800 Microsoft Points were right at the sweet spot for the Arcade.
Now that we’ve seen the move to 1200 Microsoft Points as a minimum for Arcade titles, I’m left wondering what the hell happened? I remember when Microsoft increased the Arcade limit in terms of size for developers and I thought then…”oh boy, we’re going to see a price increase now”. Momma didn’t raise no fool and so prices began to increase. Remember the outrage when the boys at Penny Arcade trumped everyone by charging 1600 Microsoft Points? Oh how that was merely a sign of things to come.
I can’t remember the last time I even wanted to buy an Arcade title. In fact, I don’t even bother with the trials much anymore given the prices these days. I used to always check out the trial at least. There are some developers out there who continue to offer up quality Arcade titles at 800 Microsoft Points (thank you Load Inc. and NinjaBee) but they are a minority now. I’m not saying that 1200 Microsoft Points is a huge pinch in my pocket but it’s definitely not the amount of points I just “casually” drop here and there. The odds of me having 1200 Microsoft Points left in my balance from time to time are very slim. So the desire to even investigate what’s in the Arcade has diminished quite a bit.
I don’t know of many people who simply keep a good old 1200 points laying around for emergencies. Do you? My point is that with the increase in Arcade price, my desire to even keep up with the latest release is almost nonexistent. I put the titles under much more scrutiny these days than when there were 400 Microsoft Points. I have to convince myself of parting ways with 1200 (and sometimes 1600) points on an Arcade title now. I won’t be surprised when they move towards 2000 Microsoft Points.
I suppose the vision for the Xbox Live Arcade has been reinvested in the new GameRoom idea. I’d rather not pay to play Centipede when it’s on my cell phone for free though. At what point will the GameRoom simply turn into the Arcade of now?
Are you still buying Xbox Live Arcade titles as frequently as you once did? Is your interest still the same? Things are no longer just a casual play in the Xbox Live Arcade.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:44 am
WHO decides the price? The Developer? Or the Publisher?
I loverd Limbo but was it Microsoft who wanted it priced at 1200 or the developer?
I think there were only 2 games I bought at 1200, LIMBO and BRAID, all else was less or when they were deals of the week.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:11 am
both..in some cases Publisher only.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Splosion Man.
Really was the only recent one. when i purchase from the arcade its either really good games like splosion man or braid or classics like galaga and doom and metal slug that i love to revisit! BTW winning meta slug here is wat introduced me to U360
July 28th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Metal Slug
July 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I’ve only bought one arcade game for 1200msp, and I very much regret it. (although I did buy the 1st map pack for MW2 at that prices *facepalm*). It was Madden NFL Arcade. I usually always buy them when they go on sale, because 1200msp for an arcade game is rediculous considering how little gameplay you get out of most of them. I have been thinking about Limbo though, it looks really good…
July 28th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Definitely not happy with this trend, but it is nice to se more high quality games coming out. Capacity becomes an issue too, with the size of games now, you can only keep a couple of your HDD at any one time. Plus, if you are not into keeping up on all the new releases, most full retail games can be had for $15-20. All this adds up to making it really hard to justify the existence of the current arcade.
July 28th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
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July 28th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I thought that Shadow Complex was a deal for 1200 pts. It seemed like a full game experience to me. The departure from 400 pt games does have me upset though. I own about 50 arcade games, and most of them are 400-800 pts. The only 1200 pt ones I bought were Braid and Shadow Complex. And Game Room sucks. I hate it so much I hope it dies.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:48 am
I stopped buying Arcade titles after Game Room. Because I still have at least a dozen arcade titles to complete, and many now are not worth my time to spend so much. Why they bothered to raise the price on a arcade title that may not always be worthy of that price is beyond me.
So yea I don’t plan on buying any arcade titles soon, at least not until I complete mine on my plate first.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:50 am
some additional analysis of the 2010 arcade sales:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29505/InDepth_Xbox_Live_Arcade_Sales_Analysis_First_Half_Of_2010.php
July 29th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@ no hands … splosion man was always 800 … and as some have stated I paid 1200 once and it was also for Shadow Complex, in the end I felt I got my moneys worth … but that IMO started the trend … with the advent of the deal of the week crap I know Im a patient man and will wait for some of these games I want to play (limbo, death spank, lara croft, etc.) to drop in price …
it’s still a bunch of bullshit I agree, gouging people because they know they can makes me a very angry person …
and dont get me started on map packs costing 1200 …
July 29th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
The only 1200 game I’ve got is Castle Crashers. Honestly I find arcade games at 1200 points are way better than what Irish said with Maps at 1200.
August 1st, 2010 at 8:25 am
The only 1200 game i bought was castle crashers, and that one was totally worth it.
Nowadays everything is far to pricey imo. i only buy stuff when its a deal of the week item often. but i usually still play all the trials though.
on a sidenote : things on wheels was so extremely bad….. way to ruin my revolt memories.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
I did buy an expensive game only once, and that’s Puzzle Quest. It’s too bad that we fell on Penny Arcade’s clutches, and now we are left with a game series with no ending. As for the latest summer of arcade releases, that high price norm really went to dust with such a bad game as Castlevania.
If they’re going to give us quality, fine. But if not, then better bring us back cheap good games.