Behemoth co-founder John Baez, the studio behind the Xbox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers, speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine, has said that popularity of indie games on consoles is thanks to the Xbox Live Arcade Service. Castle Crashers has gone on to sell more than two million units.

“I think without a doubt the indie console community would not exist as it does today if Xbox Live Arcade had been dropped after the original Xbox iteration,” said Baez. “No other console hardware manufacturer has had the success of downloadable games that XBLA has had, and many smaller developers have shared in that success.”

“I don’t believe Microsoft was prepared for the success that it would see, both in terms of the number of devs who were on board, and the volume of people who would browse the marketplace,” said Dave Voyles, co-organizer of the annual Xbox Live Indie Games Uprising. “Before XBLIG, and even after, there has yet to be an easy avenue for independent devs to get work released without going through a closed platform or dealing with a publisher.”