Phil Harrison: Indie Titles Will Sell Consoles.

Oh totally, yeah. Undoubtedly. The existence of this level of creativity and this level of excitement from the development community is wonderful for our platform, it’s great for the industry as well. It gives an on-ramp for developers to get into development, which was previously not available to them, so I think that’s a positive thing. But we know for sure that games like Minecraft, like Limbo, have been system sellers in the past. There’s no reason to believe that that won’t be the case in the future.

Interdasting

Huh, well whaddayaknow...interesting statement there from the MS mouthpiece...hmm?

Was told on here by the ever faithful MS lot that no-one buys consoles for indie games...

I guess some of you will be eating crow served by the almighty P. Harrison, sit down and grab a menu.

Let's discuss your sudden change of opinion.

i own a ps4 and i don't think indies sell consoles.

I don't agree....blockbusters sell consoles

Indies are great french fries. French Fries are delicious, but you never go to a restaurant to buy fries only. But you almost always buy fries when you buy a meal as a bonus. Indies do not sell consoles IMHO. But they are important and can be great. That's my take.

Phil Harrison continues to show why he didn't get the head Xbox job. His departure is forthcoming.

People definitely don't buy consoles for indies but the do help sell a console.

Ex. I'd buy a PS4 for Infamous Second Son, not Secret Ponchos, but Secret Ponchos is definitely a game I'd like to play.

I didn't buy these next gen consoles to play indie games. Phil Harrison seems to have the mentality of Sony.

Not shocking since he is from there.

The PC is the king of Indies. Always has been.

You've never made a meal out of tons of chili cheese fries?

Who would say MS doesn't support indie games? They have in the past. What they don't support is self publishing. And I'm grateful as this helps keep waves of shit from flooding the online store. Do they make help console sales... who knows, I got each console to play retail games, playing downloadable games was a secondary consideration, but one I embraced as there's good games on the online stores. It is of course a super cow narrative that MS is evil mega-capitalist and enemy of the indie scene and doesn't support it.

Well phill harrison is as stupid as he looks then

Oh sheen's oh sheen's trying to put up the act.

THE ENTIRE last generation you had nothing but vitriol to say about indie titles that is Unless they were Pseudo Indie titles like flower, flow, or Journey.

Minecraft 360? not a single one of you didn't spit venom at it, That is till it was released on the ps3, XBLA titles of which quite a few were originally indie offerings? "bububbububub they don't count only full retail games", Indie marketplace on XBL at a time when Sony offered nothing like it? "bbububububu those are just shitty 1 dollar games about zombies or robots" My oh my how times have changed.

After an entire generation of being told they don't matter we finally said they don't sell systems they don't matter and now the Sheen's say they do and are trying to make out it was Lemmings the entire generation.

Did Phil Harrison turn into a Cow? That's sounds like something they would say.

Shut up or shave.

>Pick one.

If that's the case, then why aren't MS chasing indie's like Sony huh?

Wait people are willing to buy a console for indie games? I don't know about everyone else but I think i'd rather buy indie games for the super cheap on pc. It's not like most shit laptops can't run most of them at decent level. The only thing selling me on these machines would be nice first party AAA exclusives, and I think the majority of people not buying consoles right now would agree.

Well they're going through a checklist currently.

I mean, something has to sell these hunks of plastic right?

They're trying to but Sony's done a much better job gaining their respect.

Completely missing the point of the topic just to type out a paragraph about "oohhh, when I was young" and to type out sheens. The bearded gorm does not disappoint.

Not changing my opinion. I have never met a gamer in the past few years that told me they bought 360 instead of PS3 because of Minecraft, limbo, or something of that nature. Company man can talk up indies, like he's not trying to look good here, all he wants. I still say its a rare minority that buys a $400-500 console to play indies games.

Hes probably indirectly defending the vast ammount of PS4 indies, hes the Sony's secret agent after all

Sarcasm.

I love getting indie games for free or super cheap on PS+ or on my pc.... you complaining lems don't know what your missing bashing these titles. I've had so much fun lately with Outlast, Luftrausers, Steam world Dig, Terraria, Starbound, Banished, Gnomoria, Tales of Majal, Avernum escape from the pit, FTL, Mercanary Kings, Rouge Legacy, Hotline Miami, and many others... I always have games to play! And they are new ideas and fresh takes on things AAA devs would never be allowed to make.

Give them a try... You lems only seem to like them when they are advertised by M$... I remember all the bragging about Castle Crashers, and Geometry Wars.... but if its not sponsered by your "overlord" you shun them...wtf...!!!?

He is right. Why do you think the IndieStation is doing so well?

You've made an amazing leap if you think that the opinion of the head of Xbox Division is by default shared by its fanbase on System Wars.

Guess that is what MS will mostly be offering this gen......but I don't buy indie games...for any console.

Full retail exclusives are the reason why I spend a few hundred bucks on a console not for some simple game that I can play on my shitty laptop or cell phone. I bought my Xbox 360 for Gears, Moto GP 06, PGR 3 and Mass Effect and my PS3 for Warhawk, Demons Souls, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and KZ 2. I didn't spend that kind of cash for games like: Flower, Super Meatboy, Trials and Braid. Jeez, what's this idiot smoking?

Again, like the neckbeard up top, nothing to do with liking indies last gen or this gen or any gen. People on here have been telling me gamers don't buy consoles for indie games. This here high up MS exec is telling them that they're all wrong. Just found it interesting and wondered what people's reactions would be. Although I think some of you are incapable of seeing the variables that each gen creates along with context so you always have to bring up the stuff from last gen. One that should be recognised is the evaporation of the mid-tier developer that happened throughout last gen.

Makes a statement of the difficulty of understanding while not understanding what he said. Ok.

With that sort of reply. No more questions, your honour. :).

Guess people know why Phil Sphincter was the only dude capable of getting the top job.

@misterpmedia: It won't hurt it from selling consoles that's for sure. It will really depend on how many of these Indie games are exclusive or not. If they are must have exclusive Indie game, it could help, yes. Mutiplat Indie games? NO. Just ask the developers of the Ouya who still haven't sold 1 million systems yet. lol!!

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I would replace Phil Harrison with Ed Fries in a heartbeat.

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You're missing out on a lot of great games then. You're lose. M$ will have big name "AAA Exclusives" and Indie games at the E3. No next-gen console will just have Indie games, but the Ouya. lol!!

God damn did the Ouya bomb lol, didn't they suffer from some other controversy too regarding money?

I most definitely didnt bought a PS4 for indie titles. Some Indie games are ok for a playthrough only, others are ok for playing here and there but I've yet to see a indie game that grabbed me like a AAA title does. Whats the point of having better hardware if you aint gonna use it?

I'd love to see the market research that led to that conclusion. What's the highest selling indie title anyway?

No no, that was me. And it's true, he's full of shit. If I want indie games i'll get an iPad and/or use steam on my computer. He's on crack if he thinks that's why people will buy a console. He's as much as an arsehole for this as Adam Boyes.

They had some kind of funding for developer who would make their game exclusive for the Ouya. If they aquired $50K+ on Kickstarter and reach their goal, the Ouya's "Free the Games Fund" would double the Kickstarter. They only had $1 in funds for this program. One developer reached their goal, but pulled out of the program because they were able to get the extra funding elsewhere to finish their game and release it on multiple platforms. The whole program was a mess. You can read about it here.

http://indiestatik.com/2013/09/18/free-the-games-fund/

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On game consoles? Mindcraft with over 12 million on XBox 360. No other indie game has sold that amount on a game console.

Phil's right. And as we go forward, expect indie games to become more elaborate, filling the coveted 'mid-tier developer' output we seemingly lost last generation. You'd have never expected anything as ambitious as No Man's Sky last generation coming out of the indie scene, and that game has all the potential to be a 'blockbuster' on the scale of Minecraft.

AAA blockbusters aren't built, necessarily to sell consoles. And now that budget prices are what they are, the reality of the industry is that we are very unlikely to get another GTA3 or Halo situation, where a game so good comes out it solely justifies the purchase of a console. Games that meaningful will now be undoubtedly built for maximum financial return. The game I recently released was a huge deal, and even though we were considered 'an exclusive', we're still really multi-plat and that effect on our ability to single-handily sell consoles absolutely showed.

And we have a Winner :P "Indie" is going to be a dying term, as it is already muddles, but we already have "Indie" games which has sound and imagery on par with most AAA titles. And with teams in the 30+

So Indie is likely going to turn into the AA budget games that last gen killed off, digital only, cheaper giving most people what they are looking for, and far more diverse due to less cost of making. Also helps that most of these games will likely be DD only since Indie games already occupy such notion.

So Phil is right if that prediction comes true, Indie games will perhaps not on its own sell a console, but you might see 40+ Unique exclusives which use each consoles hardware specifically, cheap enough not to go multiplat, or try to appeal to as wise a userbase in tradeoff to shallow gameplay and story.

here is a fun prediction, do not hold me to it, but I will predict that we will end up seeing a resurgance in Japanese games this gen, the difference being that they will be mid tier "indie"

Only if that game is exclusive, and only if that game is Minecraft.

This board is called System Wars please, please, please stop making a fool out of yourself on here.

WTF is a sheen? I'm guessing it has something to do with your avatar. Is it a big ginger beard or what?

Only to the like 100k people on Neo-gaf will indies sell people on buying $300+ consoles. The closest I'll give him is indies that look like a AAA product ie Metro 2033 and stuff like that. Your indie 2D platformer with pixel art and/or gameplay based around avoiding or sticking to light/shadow/color is not selling XB1 and PS4.

what a flawed comment. at the end of day, you will not buy a console for Secret Ponchos(what is that?)