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View Full Version : Microsoft's Ted Woolsey on what it takes to get on XBLA



jkipp82
07-19-2011, 03:11 PM
1643
Xbox Live Arcade (http://joystiq.com/tag/xbla) offers many developers a great opportunity, spotlighting their games in front of a large audience every Wednesday.
As a result, there's obviously plenty of competition to get games on the service. In a recent interview with Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35383/Interview_Microsofts_Woosley_On_What_It_Takes_To_B e_Published_On_XBLA.php), Xbox Live Arcade first-party director of publishing Ted Woolsey offered some advice for would be Xbox Live Arcade developers.

Woolsey's key advice is for developers to present something different from other offerings on the service. Getting the pitch right is important as well, with Woolsey noting that developers should "get all the great ideas you have out and make sure that they're understandable." In addition to coming up with new concepts, Woolsey also stated that Microsoft is "looking at different business models" and is "aware of what's going on out in the greater games community." Perhaps the Xbox Live free-to-play rumors (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/11/rumor-ms-adding-free-to-play-games-to-xbox-live-in-2012/) are coming true after all.

Woolsey also offered other details about XBLA, notably that there are typically around 50 XBLA games in development, with about 30 being published in a given year. With so many titles, Microsoft is keen to expand on promotions like Summer of Arcade (http://joystiq.com/tag/summer-of-arcade) in order to offer more exposure to various games. Furthermore, Woolsey added that the upcoming 360 dashboard update (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/06/new-kinect-dashboard-to-include-bing-search-technology/) should make browsing for games a less confusing process.