Larry Hryb, Xbox
Live Director of Programming, interviewed Greg Canessa, the general manager of Xbox Live Arcade for his regular
podcast. The two spent a good deal of time discussing Xbox Live Arcade, during which Canessa said:
"As the business has grown, we now are swamped--completely swamped--with folks that want in Arcade, large publishers and small publishers alike .... the Capcoms, Namcos, Midways, Konamis, EAs--those types of guys were like, 'Yeah, maybe one or two titles.' Now they're coming out with us saying, 'oh, we wanna do 25 titles. We wanna do 20 titles. We're starting up a division to do arcade titles.' So we have a huge amount of opportunities from the large publishers. Not just back-catalog stuff... The retro stuff is part of it, but it's also new content they wanna develop for arcade..."
We've said it before, we'll say it again: Xbox Live Arcade is the best thing going for the Xbox 360 right now, and that's not some backhanded compliment. It's a truly fantastic service for gamers who know that quality comes in all forms, not just the latest title with a multi-million-dollar development budget. If big publishers are developing titles just for Xbox Live Arcade, gamers are in for a treat.
Just one important caveat: the Xbox Live Arcade party lasts only so long as Microsoft plays the gatekeeper role well. If the company softens its standards and starts to include mediocre titles for download, gamer trust and interest in the service will decline rapidly. So far, they're on the right path. Geometry Wars--that little $5.00 Xbox Live Arcade title that has surprised and delighted the majority of those who have given it a shot--still reigns as the top Xbox 360 title in our book.
