Braid: Anniversary Edition 'Sold Like Dogs**t', Says Creator

@Mustoe this game was already playable on Xbox in the form of the original release (backwards compatible). And this looks… exactly the same. The original release was supported. But there wasn’t really a need for this release so 🤷‍♂️. I’m all for supporting smaller studios but not if they are copy/pasting and asking for my money.

That's the problem with remastering games that are already available on the current market places and with no major improvements...

Blow has always been a self-made pariah and firebrand. Maybe people are getting tired of buying re-releases with very little effort given to improve it. Nothing to see here...

It sold poorly because no one wanted it. It was big back in the day but no one has talked about since then. There's dozens of games just like it every year so there's no reason to play it over any other.

He blames consoles for being "dead", tell that to the Hypercharge: Unboxed devs.

That's what happens when you re-release a game that didn't need remastered. Even the version, 2 gens old, on 360, still looks good today.

Without a compelling reason, such as physical release, why would one expect the same thing to sell?

@Mustoe I think the problem has been created by the industry itself around consoles: games at very high prices, remakes, remasters, paid updates...

I don't see Gamepass as the cause, the problem is how abusive, expensive and saturated the industry is, Gamepass was born more as a solution to this, it allows us to play games that we otherwise would not have bought or played.

And the truth is that this Braid Anniversary Edition would have worked well in this service, but not because they have perpetuated us to this, but because it is a game that many of us have already played and that does not stand out too much among all the current releases.

The game was an indie darling but it isn’t a classic and was already widely available before this rerelease. The game hasn’t really been in conversations since.

@Mustoe Considering nobody actually buys Xboxen, and Game Pass also lives on PC, I don't really see how Game Pass is affecting the buying habits of the majority of gamers while PC remains the best for sales? There's a lot to criticize about Xbox, but that just comes across as an excuse to take a grumpy pot shot at Game Pass. It's irrelevant here.

@Pabpictu is right on this one, this is an industry problem. Especially a console industry problem. When the market is built around the most heavily marketed pop culture moments, stacked with rapidly increasing prices that change the market from "cheap high value entertainment" to "high cost entertainment", meanwhile other competitive products have moved into its old market that are quite literally "Free, and on a device you already have", why would sales not begin to plummet? Let alone sales of a "remaster" of an already available game that already looks fine, and was only popular because it was innovative 15 years ago, but is now just like hundreds of similar other things that are "newer."

And totally agree that GP was intended as, and should have been, a solution to the financial problems. But for whatever reason the public never embraced it and it's choking on its cost to revenue ratio as a result.

Simplifying it all the real problem in the games industry is a combination of the cost to produce what companies think customers want demands they charge a price higher than the market is willing to pay, and to make it more complicated, the market has now split into a majority unwilling to pay the current high prices frequently, opting instead to not buy at all, or to only buy the very biggest most highly marketed blockbuster evergreen games, and a market that would eagerly pay $500 per game just to get it on launch day. We've almost descended into an era where Neo Geo is the only console.

To simplify further the biggest problem the game industry has is oversupply. There's far too many companies making far too many games and the stores now have far too many games on sale such that the value of games necessarily MUST be radically lowered to App Store proportions. But every company looking to recoup spending far more than the market supports thinks they can get high prices for their work. Take a look at the Steam catalogue and try to identify EVERY game available to purchase. After going through a few thousand, identify why anyone would buy any particular given game? Amidst so much competition, what actual monetary value does any one game really carry? A few bucks maybe? Or free? Like the biggest games?

To "fix" the industry, supply must be radically cut. OPEC style. 3/4 of the current studios ought to be shuttered. Games should be limited to how many can release per year, industry-wide with licenses purchased to be allowed to release a game so that no more than a few release a year, and every game has its time in the spotlight and can command high selling prices. This is the solution Nintendo used with the NES to fix the industry after Atari crashed it because it looked...well....like this.

But obviously that cure may be worse than the illness. Still, as long as there are more games available to buy than anyone could ever even imagine buying, the value of each game isn't really close to what they want to charge. The only other fix is to limit the amount of time a game can be playable before it's "expired" by an authority. Enter subscriptions, GaaS, and "generations."

This is the first time I've ever heard of it.

Imagine being so arrogant that it must be the platforms fault, rather than nobody wanted to buy your game. Again.

If you are relying on sales of a remaster of a game to keep your studio going then that is really on them for not trying to come up with something new. People aren't simply going to buy a game that has very little changed except for some new levels no matter how much critics still praise it. That is more on you for assuming people want to buy the same game again the blaming the platforms it's been released on as the answer accept that you misjudged the demand for an updated version of the game.

@M20B25 It was one of the very first "indies" - or at least one of the first to become "big". It was among the standouts in the early digital distribution era that made the X360 shine with it's Live Arcade service. A small bite-sized game with simple aesthetics that hearkened back to 16-bit/32-bit consoles was revolutionary at the time when all we had was AAA brown shooters. But it's not 2008 anymore. The indie scene blew up. Digital distribution is normal. And Braid isn't particularly special anymore.

I really don't stop buying a game in the hopes that it comes to Game Pass. And have even bought a lot of games that are already there to play at my own pace.

That said. Yeah, there wasn't a need for this so, I guess that shows in the sales numbers.

Maybe make something new? Nobody cares about this game. It was original 15 years ago. But it's 2024 bro. Nobody cares about Braid.

Uh...

It's free on Netflix. Maybe that has a factor.

I had no idea this came out.

Translation: "We're upset our money grab failed. Rather than accepting it, we'll just blame consoles."

The guy is an idiot. In the same interview he states it still sold more than Digital Eclipse's Atari 50 games and gold master series. Games which had significantly more content than this "anniversary edition" and he still complains!? Braid is an amazing game but this Jonathan Blow... What a *

This was a terrible idea from the start. The original is still available for purchase on Xbox and Steam. It's so old that most already have it. There wasn't nearly enough done to warrant an 'Anniversary Edition'. You had a small window with Playstation and Switch. I would reaaaaallly like to see the numbers on those platforms. Blow seems rather full of himself with these comments. What were you expecting? 2 million in sales for an extremely niche platformer that peaked 15 years ago?

Should've only been for PS4 & Switch. Only put it on the Platforms it's not currently on, then if it does good enough release it on the others.

So this guy expected people to buy an older game with a “fresh coat of paint” on Xbox for $20, when you can buy the original for $10?
Also original was delisted on Steam, so may have helped in sales.

I liked this game at the time, but it's not something I want to play over and over again.

It was cool in 2008 when Xbox didn't have many platformers & it celebrated Indies via Xbox Live Arcade. A lot of younger people hardly have spent time in arcades since so many have shut down & Xbox has done a poor job of highlighting Indies even with their ID@Xbox team. Would not buy this game again even since I own it. Also never even beat it.

I'd say Backwards Compatibility has more to do with this 'failing' than Game Pass. Even without Game Pass offering hundreds of games to play, all competing for my gaming time, I'd see little/no reason investing in an 'old' game I have and can play on my hardware. I won't pay £10 to upgrade my PS4 version of a Game to unlock the PS5 port - it's just greed!!

Braid shook up the industry itself in many ways just because of its success as a Digital Only, Indie/Arcade game and now most people buy everything Digitally in their Console Store. But 15-20yrs later, its not as unique, not 'new' and now competing with 1000's more games than it had to compete with on the 360. You have ALL the XB1 and Series games that can be bought and played - many much cheaper too...