Xbox’s Charla: Indie boom will never die

Chris Charla, director of Xbox’s independent publishing scheme, is confident that gamers will always be on the lookout for games by new and smaller studios.

During a recent interview with Develop – which you can read here – the Xbox exec dismissed the notion that the growing number of indie developers is nearing its peak, or that the public’s current love for indie games will diminish.

"The games industry is constantly changing," he told Develop. "It’s different than it was six months ago, it’s different than it was six months before that, and it’s going to be different six months from now. From my perspective, thinking about what’s going on in the development community, there are some amazing games coming out, super innovative games and I think there’s always a market for that."

It can be argued that some of the most notable indie firms of recent years are going to a size – both in headcount and stature – that some may not consider to be indie. What happens when all of these firms have grown too big, or failed from lack of success?

"Then a guy will split off from those teams and sets up on his own," Charla said. "If you look at the history of the games industry, you see these cyclical patterns forming. The developers that started ten years ago grew to a certain size, were bought by a publisher, and then a few people left and formed their own studio, and the cycle began again. 

"I think the rise of the independent developer, especially the small independent developer, has changed that a little bit and we’ll continue to see more changes to the industry. But that’s normal, it’s a sign of a healthy industry that isn’t stagnating."

Charla’s comments follow a keynote at last month’s London Games Conference, in which PlayStation’s Shahid Ahmad declared the indie revolution was over.

You can read the full interview with Charla, which he explains why he wants indies to drive away in Ferrarris, by clicking here.