Can Early XBLA Releases Hurt Publishers?

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Can Early XBLA Releases Hurt Publishers?

Thu, Jul 24, 2008

Earlier this morning, we reported that the release date for Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 had been moved up by a week, allowing us all to enjoy our neon explosions that much sooner. At first, we figured this could only be good news for gamers, but then we started digging around, and we noticed a few potential problems with these sudden scheduling changes. Getting games sooner may be nice for players, but is it possible that these releases could be damaging to publishers and developers? We have a few observations, after the jump.

Last week, Double D Dodgeball was released onto Xbox Live Arcade. Did you miss it? If you were anything like me, your news day was jammed full of E3 topics when the game became available, so it's possible the announcement was lost in the shuffle. Rotten timing for the publisher, trying to get any attention for your launch when the rest of the world is focused on the steady stream of news from Los Angeles. Obviously, someone has to take that bullet and launch that week, but why would anybody want to? That's the problem, though: YUKE'S Company of America wasn't supposed to have that job. Double D Dodgeball was originally scheduled to launch on July 30th -- next week. The company was treating this release date as official, stating it in all of their press materials.

When the date was changed, YUKE'S seemed to be caught as off-guard as anyone; the publisher only put out a release on the actual launch day, where the release merely said:

Originally set to launch on July 30, 2008, Xbox LIVE Arcade scheduling conflicts have resulted in an earlier release of July 16, 2008.

What's more, the company was engaged in a preview tour of the game as recently as the week prior to launch. I know, because I was there. Even then, just a week before the game would see its full launch, the YUKE'S representative told me that the release date was July 30th. I don't think he was hoping to surprise me later; I'm pretty sure he believed that to be the truth. Furthermore, it's extremely unusual (and inadvisable) for a company to provide previews only a week before a game is launched. At that point, one may as well wait for the full review. Also, while we online media folks may be able to publish a preview relatively quickly, I have to assume YUKE'S was showing the game to some print-based outlets, as well, and trying to get a timely preview in print when your game is only a week from launch is a fool's errand. All of these combined factors suggest that the launch date for Double D Dodgeball was changed on extremely short notice. It also looks like this was done without the publisher's approval or consent. After all, no company in its right mind would consciously choose to change their release date with barely any press, and pick the week of E3 to do so -- it'd be suicide.

On the surface, this seems like an underhanded process. "Scheduling conflicts" or no, forcing a publisher to take an unpalatable release date without adequate warning or negotiation can be unfairly damaging to their game's chances for success. The question is, why would this be necessary? It might be innocent or unavoidable: perhaps the game that was originally scheduled to launch that week wasn't quite ready, and someone had to be moved in order to fill the void. Worse assumptions, though, could suggest that perhaps a publisher with a little more muscle didn't feel like launching against E3, and successfully lobbied for a better spot, leaving a smaller company to take the hit for them.

E3 may be over, but the early release for Geometry Wars 2 suggests that this practice may be an ongoing policy. We've contacted Microsoft to learn more about the XBLA release process, and we'll keep you updated as we explore what this may mean to publishers.

Full disclosure: At time of publication, YUKE'S was a client of TriplePoint PR, a firm managed by Richard Kain — owner of our parent company Pantheon Labs.