Microsoft Drops Fees For Patching Xbox 360 Titles

[Earnest Cavalli]

Microsoft Drops Fees For Patching Xbox 360 Titles

Updating Xbox 360 games will no longer require developers to offer a cash sacrifice to Microsoft.

For years now, if you were a videogame developer working on an Xbox 360 title, you hoped against hope that your code wouldn't produce any unexpected bugs. Not because this would upset fans (though that's always a concern), but because patching the issue would require you to pay Microsoft a surprisingly large fee. How large? It varies by project, but standard figures are said to be in the tens of thousands of dollars - not the kind of scratch a small, independent developer might have lying around.

Fortunately for those less-than-wealthy developers, Microsoft has removed the monetary requirement for patching Xbox 360 and Xbox Live titles. According to Eurogamer, the firm "made the policy change on the quiet earlier this year," and as of the time of this article's publication, submitting patches to Microsoft does not require a complementary sack of cash. Microsoft does reserve the right to charge any developers that it deems to be abusing the system with an overlarge number of updates, but that caveat seems like a legitimate safeguard against abuse than any real effort on Microsoft's part to generate an additional revenue stream for the wealthy-as-god computing giant.

What does this mean for you, the consumer? Obviously it should be expected that games will now be patched more readily, and developers will be able to respond to bugs in their code with far more reliability and speed than they could previously. That said, this will also likely increase the number of patches being released for Xbox 360 titles as a whole. There's always a concern that as games become easier to patch after release that developers will put less effort into polishing their software prior to launch, but we have yet to see evidence of that trend emerging among Xbox game makers. Hopefully in the end, this decision will simply lead to better games for all Xbox devotees, or at the very least, titles that are less prone to freezing, crashes and all the other wonderful flaws we're grown to tolerate in modern videogames.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-26-microsoft-no-longer-charges-developers-to-patch-their-xbox-360-games]

Permalink

 

[Zer0Saber]

So this had nothing to do with a flood of indie developers running over to Sony. They made this decision at the beginning of the year but said, "hey you know what makes a lot of sense? Telling everyone that we are dropping the pay for patch policy, but the better idea would be to wait until everyone hates us and has already left."

 

[josemlopes]

According to Eurogamer, the firm "made the policy change on the quiet earlier this year," and as of the time of this article's publication, submitting patches to Microsoft does not require a complementary sack of cash.

They really dont know anything about PR, do they?

 

[dragongit]

I think the ship has already set sail Microsoft.

Not to mention great job introducing this at the end of the consoles lifespan. When there is obviously a flood of new indei and third party games coming out before the release of the Xbox one like... uhhhh... uhh... Saints Row 4? Also note that it only mentions this going for the 360. I don't know if its been confirmed or denied but it's probably still going to be a thing on the Xbone.

 

[Mumorpuger]

Ooo, can we have Valve update TF2 and The Orange Box? That'd be incredible.

 

[Tanakh]

What does this mean for you, the consumer? Obviously it should be expected that games will now be patched more readily, and developers will be able to respond to bugs in their code with far more reliability and speed than they could previously.

I am not so sure about this, because Skyrim is the first the title that comes to mind needing patches and having it delayed on consoles, and I doubt it was because of the patch fee. I think the biggest delay for patches on consoles most of the time is the bureaucracy and authorization process, but might be wrong.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Dropping patching fees for the 360 a few months before it's replaced? Wow, how generous of them. What a fucking dreadful business practice to carry on for so long.

I'm sort of glad they didn't make a big PR fanfare about it, it would be like asking for thanks because you stopped punching someone in the face.

 

[Necrofudge]

Ooo, can we have Valve update TF2 and The Orange Box? That'd be incredible.

I was thinking of the exact same thing. I doubt I'd want Valve to do that anymore, though. It would just waste time better spent fine tuning the already burgeoning PC tf2 community.

 

[Zer0Saber]

So this had nothing to do with a flood of indie developers running over to Sony. They made this decision at the beginning of the year but said, "hey you know what makes a lot of sense? Telling everyone that we are dropping the pay for patch policy, but the better idea would be to wait until everyone hates us and has already left."

Just like how Sony decided on DRM, game sharing and price way before the Xbox One reveal

I think Sony admitted that they didn't come to a clear decision until the Xbox fallout and that PS3 price plan was $499 plus the camera, but then dropped the Camera and a hundred bucks just to beat Microsoft. I'm just saying that I think the whole saying -It was decided months ago- is kinda bull.
Also sorry this is completely unrelated to the topic, but what the hell, I had a giant Miller ad popup and cover the whole thing I was writing and I couldn't get rid of it. I had to refresh and start again.

 

[Leaper]

...Oh wait, this is only for 360? Wow, generuos indeed. So all the indies with Xbox one still getting screwed over?

 

[SharedProphet]

Fez update incoming?

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

What does this mean for you, the consumer? Obviously it should be expected that games will now be patched more readily, and developers will be able to respond to bugs in their code with far more reliability and speed than they could previously.

I am not so sure about this, because Skyrim is the first the title that comes to mind needing patches and having it delayed on consoles, and I doubt it was because of the patch fee. I think the biggest delay for patches on consoles most of the time is the bureaucracy and authorization process, but might be wrong.

That's true for AAA developers. While still not liking to spend extra $, they are capable of it. Their big issue is Q-A testing and release bureaucracy.

Smaller indie devs can afford more agile development models where QA and dev are more or less the same thing. The core limitation is money. It's hard to pay to patch a game when you can't afford to live off ramen noodles.

 

[bandit0802]

Everything I've learned about Microsoft in the last few weeks makes me sad I ever defended them and the Xbox.

 

[Mumorpuger]

Ooo, can we have Valve update TF2 and The Orange Box? That'd be incredible.

I was thinking of the exact same thing. I doubt I'd want Valve to do that anymore, though. It would just waste time better spent fine tuning the already burgeoning PC tf2 community.

I want in on this hat shenanigans I've been hearing so much about...

 

[uchytjes]

'bout time. It was already bullshit that they did it to begin with, but became even more so once I learned that they charged to FIX games, not just add content.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Ooo, can we have Valve update TF2 and The Orange Box? That'd be incredible.

lol thought of the same thing, although i think that update would brick the xbox, that fat bastard sized download is something i think the 360 would die on.

 

[synobal]

Never made sense to me in the first place, why charge the developers for making their games and gameplay better and more enjoyable for their customers? Just more of Microsoft's usual self destructive practices. All about getting a quick buck now at the cost of future profits.

 

[thethird0611]

I would love to re-use and slightly change an old phrase to fit this news...

"Microsoft could find the cure to Cancer, Diabetes, and AID's, and people would still hate on them"

Seriously, can we fucking give them some damn credit? They are cutting what is most likely a VERY profitable policy (because of AAA games), and flushing it down to help out the indies.

X1 gets the DRM dropped? PARANOIA, THEY ARE GOING TO PUT IT BACK IN.

Patching fee dropped? BAD PR, MS HATES INDIES, MS NEVER DOES GOOD.

Sorry, little bit of frustration from people who cant actually calm down for to read 1 good bit of news.

 

[Vivid Kazumi]

Fez update incoming?

given if fish doesn't act like a complete tosser about it.then agian,its fish. Also considering this policy applied to xbox live would this mean that its been dropped for the x1 as well?