Chris Charla has the sharp gaze of someone who’s been around this industry for decades and a smile that proves he is still enjoying every minute of it. I got a glimpse of both when I sat down with the ID@Xbox general manager of content creation and programs to talk about the program and all the indie projects he’s been involved with over the years.
For a member of the press, it’s hard not to think of Charla first and foremost as one of IGN’s launch editors — a “Founding Father,” to use words from one Greg Miller, of the influential site. Eventually, the editor stepped over the industry line into the development realm, spending a decade at Foundation 9 Entertainment. However, it’s the last ten years we talked about on a sunny day during GDC.
His early path at Xbox had him shepherding Xbox Live Arcade, a service that aided game developers to publish on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Sound familiar? ID@Xbox, explains Charla, is a program aimed at helping independent developers with Xbox access, tech support, and launch support. And he has been at its helm since it was announced at Gamescom in 2013.
Now, with a decade of steering the indie experience on Xbox, he has a lot to celebrate. In fact, of the stories tagged with his name on Xbox Wire, the vast majority include the word “celebrates” in one form or another. Luckily, he finds this fact funny as I ask him to share what we should be celebrating about the program today.
The newly introduced Indie Selects is uppermost on his mind. This initiative highlights recently released indie games to help smaller titles connect with players. It’s probably so near the surface because it fulfills a few of Charla’s hopes for ID@Xbox. “Discovery is the tricky part,” he says. Xbox can make the barriers to entry as low as possible — which includes creating a new portal for developers across the globe to present their projects directly to ID@Xbox leaders — but if the program isn’t helping the developer “find their audience,” then it’s not succeeding.
Considering his background, it makes sense that his mind would be drawn to the developer’s experience. “Hopefully, it’s not arrogant to say I’m empathetic to what developers go through,” says Charla. “I still make games on the side to keep the difficulty in mind.” He also remembers how vital money can be for ID@Xbox’s partners, mentioning that he makes getting funds to developers a top priority. After the comment, I couldn’t help asking if he has a stand-out memory of a creator he’s helped.
“There was a developer,” he says, intentionally keeping the answer vague to avoid any identifying information, “whose game launched just before a big movie.” When Charala asked if they were planning to go see it in theatres, the indie creator, who had apparently just made an impressive amount of money from their game, responded: “I guess I can afford a ticket now.”
But times aren’t always so sunny, and with layoffs, funding scarcity, and uncertainty rife this year, there has certainly been a cloud hanging over game development. “The pain is real,” admits the Xbox exec. Microsoft announced mass layoffs earlier in the year, cutting a large number of team members from across Xbox, including Activision Blizzard. Charla hopes the new streamlined process for indie devs to present their projects helps creators find the support they need in these tough times.
“Even good games can fail,” Charla says while discussing the year’s brutal climate that’s making it increasingly possible for the next indie hit to fall through the cracks. But he is also optimistic about the program’s ability to offer a lifeline. “The amount of play is as high as it’s ever been,” he says quoting research the program watches keenly. And though the waters are rough now, he believes the indie gaming space will continue to thrive.
Before ending our chat, Charla muses that we can focus on and uplift indies right now in a way that he couldn’t have dreamed of when he started in this industry. He hopes the ID@Xbox of the future to be “the best place for sustainable development. I want every developer to come to us.”
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