There was once a time when Xbox Live Arcade was the download platform of choice for independent game developers. The service promoted small-scale games and offered devs a stable platform to deliver their work on. As World of Goo developer 2D Boy has recently discovered, though, Xbox Live Arcade seems to be losing a lot of support from the indie community.
In a poll conducted by 2D Boy, it seems that indie devs prefer the PC and PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360. With Steam being the most revered distributor of digital content in the gaming space and the PlayStation Network quickly growing on that front, this should come as no surprise. And given how Microsoft's attention to Xbox Live Arcade has dwindled in recent memory, it's apparent that developers are beginning to embrace other platforms. Add to that the restrictions and requirements demanded by Microsoft, and it's easy to see why so many smaller teams would grow disgruntled with the Xbox 360 manufacturer.
It should be noted that out of the 200 developers requested for this poll, only about 100 responded. That said, those who did participate are some of the more well-known studios who managed to turn out impressive sales on Xbox Live Arcade. What this basically means is that many of the devs that fared quite well on Microsoft's download platform are now attesting to its declining quality and are slowly turning away from it.
Super Meat Boy developer Team Meat has gone on record and said that the PC is its platform of choice. And with Sony focusing heavily on the PlayStation Network with promotions like PSN Play and Only on PSN, it's obvious that indie devs have another option in the home console space. Xbox Live Arcade is undoubtedly in need of some restructuring, but whether that will happen remains to be seen.
