It would seem that Xbox LIVE has been losing steam on the downloadable games front in the past year or so. That sentiment was expressed by 2D Boy’s Ron Carmel with an in-depth report last year regarding Xbox LIVE Arcade, and now Tim Schafer is echoing the same message.
“I was hoping that would be a really, really eye-opening article for the console manufacturers…and I feel like it’s been totally dismissed,” he explained. “I really think it’s something they can’t dismiss and they should really pay a lot more attention to because he’s calling attention to a migration, an exodus of real creative talent away from those platforms to more open platforms, and I think they should do something quick to reverse that.”
Schafer also alluded to Microsoft’s current success and how that won’t automatically translate with the new console generation.
“Things change every generation and just because you’re on top and the 900-pound gorilla in one generation, as you’ve seen, it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’ll be that way forever. I think that these threats that are possibly being ignored are going to hurt those guys.”
With platforms like Apple’s iOS and Steam on the rise, this “exodus” comes across as a legitimate concern for Microsoft. Time will tell whether the company decides to look for a solution.
