from Gamasutra:
There have been legitimate questions raised in the past about whether Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade was past its prime, and if indie developers were moving away from Microsoft's digital platform, onto supposedly greener pastures like Valve's Steam and mobile app stores.
But Microsoft still wants "a really nice, eclectic mix" of games from both indies and big companies on XBLA, according to Michael Wolf, who works in marketing for XBLA at Microsoft Studios.
"It's more of a coincidence" that recent titles like Ubisoft's I Am Alive and Remedy's Alan Wake: American Nightmare blur the line between downloadable and console games. They don't presage a change in direction for the service.
"From the Microsoft Studios perspective, we've always just looked for compelling digital experiences," Wolf tells Gamasutra.
When evaluating a game, "We just want it to be fun, approachable, easy to jump into, and deliver good times," he says. "We always look for different content wherever we find it."
And when it comes to building relationships with developers, whether they're indies or big companies, "we don't really distinguish much," he says.
of course it'd be interesting to see the small indie studio side of things, and see if they feel the same way.
