Geometry Wars was going to be free

But then they charged 400 MS Points instead. Why? Because they were forced to. Originally, the developers Bizarre wanted the game to be a gift as a way of rewarding the hardcore gamer. Apparently they were not allowed to do this, according to an IGN interview.

IGN: How has the experience of developing for Arcade changed since you started creating Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved? Did the Arcade seem like a bit of an unproven and potentially risky project?

Ben Ward: Well we didn’t really look at it as a way to make money or develop a new platform. Geometry Wars was really intended as a gift to hardcore gamers and we initially wanted to give the game away for free. When it became evident that we couldn’t do this, we said to Microsoft “what’s the absolute bare minimum we can charge”. They said 400 points, so we went with that.

In terms of the risk, it was fairly low. Stephen Cakebread did the bulk of the work on his own, so costs weren’t astronomical. Contrast this to Boom Boom Rocket where we have an entire team working on the project, and you’ll see the risk increases. However, it’s a really strong game and we’re hoping that gamers will like it as much as we do.

It’s interesting that they had to charge for the game, especially considering Totemball was (and still is) free as a reward for picking up the Vision Cam. It’s good they charged the lowest possible rate though, that probably helped make the game as popular as it is than it otherwise might have been at 800 Points, or even the unholy amount of 1200 Points.

The interview itself is an interesting read, not only revealing details about Geometry Wars, but also about the upcoming XBLA game Boom Boom Rocket. Read the interview for all the details.

Thanks nofear360 for submitting.

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