Xbox One Keeps Indie Self-Publishing Off-Limits

[Xan Krieger]

His last name is Booty and he sounds like an ass.
I think this shows Microsoft finally got sick of all the success and money and is now making like Kurt Cobain except instead of a shotgun they're using atomic annie.

 

[Atmos Duality]

"I would also expect that for this new generation, that we're going to continue to explore new business models and new ways of surfacing content," he continued. "But Microsoft Studios is a publisher that works with a wide range of partners, as do a lot of other people, to bring digital content to the box."

"New business model?"
"Wide range of partners?"

You JUST nixed involvement with everyone except a very narrow subset of partners.
So don't piss on my head and then try to tell me it's raining.

Fine by me in any case. I'm not buying into your honeypot system, and quite frankly, those indie devs would be better off staying away from your foolishness as well.

 

[sethisjimmy]

I think a lot of people are misunderstanding this article to an extent. Xbox is doing away with Xbox Live Indie Games. You know, that section hidden away in the depths of the Xbox menus?

You know, this Xbox Live Indie Games:


This isn't anything like Xbox Live Arcade, oh god no. This place repulses quality with a passion. Mainly because everyone and anyone with a keyboard can publish a game on there and sell it for a buck. So yeah, good riddance.

However, something that is worth criticizing is the quote "We intend to continue to court developers in the ways that we have". Which is notable because Xbox has a reputation for treating it's XBLA developers like absolute shit, charging them huge amounts of money, restricting the amount of free content they're allowed to give to their player, giving them no control over price. Jon Blow of Braid and Team Meat of Super Meat Boy in particular have been open in criticizing Xbox's current business practices when dealing with smaller developers.

 

[Terramax]

Another nail in the coffin, Microsoft. Keep em coming!

 

[RJ Dalton]

Because every console in this generation has to have at least one thing wrong with it.

 

[Callate]

Oh for pity's sake.

Of all the things they could have changed for the next generation, surely few would be easier than the policies under which independents can release downloadable games. Game Informer just did a good-sized article on how the indy-download policies on the 360 for things like release dates and patches already have many of the most prominent independents saying they'll never work with Microsoft again. This is not a secret, not even an "open" secret.

At this point I can only assume that this is one more aspect of Microsoft's "we can have a presence of our own in the apps market like Google and Apple, too, we just have to clamp down on anyone who would make things for our products with an iron will" initiative as seen on Windows 8.

I swear, I can hear the echoes of palms striking foreheads from here.

 

[Justin Smith]

It's like they're trying to make this xbox one as bad as humanly possible.
The xbox one is SO BAD.
I have not a fanboy that is blind enough to defend it!

 

[Formica Archonis]

Does Ballmer rate his success by the number of people who hate him? Because between Windows 8 and XBox 1 (Blue Jays 3), I really think he does.

 

[vasiD]

I've got a shovel under this desk if you want it Microsoft.

Microsoft Rep:
Oh no, no thanks, we've got a Mexican day labor team at work 24/7 already digging that hole deeper, and as you can see, as of yesterday it's finally paying off.

Oh shit... you mean new console announcements are supposed to make stock go up and not down?

Oh man, I am so fired.

 

[Mr. Q]

I've got a shovel under this desk if you want it Microsoft.

I've got some spare hammers and nails for their coffin.

 

[unstabLized]

You know why I'm shocked? I'm not shocked that MS is trippling over itself so hard that it's going down 150 levels of stairs, but the fact that they keep digging deeper and deeper, adding more floors, is just wonderous to me. I mean come on, that alone takes talent. I wonder what's next. "Xbox One summons Satan when Kinect is malfunctioning"... Nah, too light for Microsoft, it'll be probably be more dreadful then that..

 

[Akytalusia]

something.. doesn't feel right here. is microsoft -trying- to commit suicide? does it want to fail? is this all deliberate? i'm obviously not referring to just this, but, surely it can't be a coincidence that every move they make is digging them deeper into the red..
maybe they're so full of themselves that they believe they can do whatever they want and still succeed. maybe they're doing all this to prove this point and laugh at us from their high horse when we prove them right after they throw their shit at us and we fill their pockets for it. just as planned.
hmm..

 

[Zipa]

The biggest indie developers pan Win 8 because of it's restrictions on self-publishing and limiting of software to windows store. Win 8 sales lackluster at best. Response? Institute even worse policy on the new Xbox.

Well the Indies wont miss them. And neither will I, if the other shit I've heard about the Xbone is true.

Let it be so that forever shall the new Xbox be known as the Xbone.

Microsofts say on the PC is utterly irrelevant though aside from the OS market. Indies can still self publish on PC just fine without going through Microsofts store. Some go through platforms like Steam ect while some like game dev tycoon and Minecraft sell the game on their own website and you just download the installer and away you go.

As much as Microsoft wants to it can't restrict indies or anyone else on the PC because of the open nature of the platform,you can install whatever the hell you like and they can't do a thing about it.

And one day someone will make a PC OS that will replace Windows , maybe it will be sooner rather than later if they keep making mistakes like not making a tablet OS for PCs.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I'm actually starting to find all this idiocy humorous. I mean, is Microsoft trying to run the biggest joke in the history of gaming, and we'll all realize it isn't that bad once E3 comes? Or are they really so disconnected from gaming audiences that they actually think they are saying things we want to hear?

 

[RicoADF]

The news just keeps getting worse. I'm still getting the new console anyway because the PS4's share button business doesn't do all that much more to impress me, the only way I'm giving up on Microsoft is if they charge an obscene amount of money for the console, but I can see why everyone else is mad.

I really don't know what they're thinking, I can only hope the rage causes them to change their minds or there's enough clarifications at E3 to alleviate the worst of it.

Lets get this right:
- The Xbone requires you to go online every 24hrs to play games - The PS4 has no online requirement
- The Xbone locks games to your account thus killing off used games - The PS4 has no such system in place and wont support it
- The Xbone has the Kinnect always on and is required for the system to run and monitor you 24/7 - The PS4 has no such system.

And you will pick the XBone over the PS4 because of a share button which is an optional feature that wont effect your ability to play games, the whole point of a console, unlike the new 'features' of the XBone. I think your priorities are alittle miscalibrated mate....

 

[Strazdas]

You know what?

I wonder how long it will take until a bunch of devs are tired of dealing with what the Big Three have provided as their next-gen console, come together, and actually fund and create the kind of console they really want to see. I mean, at this point, why hasn't such an attempt been made? Developers definitely want a console to work with, but at this point there's nothing that's got their real interest...

it has. Its called Ouya.

As an indie developer that has a publishing history with Microsoft. I sorta ok with this. 90% of the games on the 360 indie/arcade marketplace didn't make money for either Microsoft or their creators. The only redeeming factor is you could go around and tell people you release a game on a console. If your an indie studio and you create good games, you should already have a Microsoft Evangelist contact. If you got a good game you want to put on Xbox One, let them know and they will come to you.

the problem here is not making money, the problem is restrictions micorosft put on those contracts. for example you cant give free-of-charge expansions to your users.

Not even flinching from the xbox 360, ever. If forced to move, i'll just skip over to Windows XP, and download the new games.

Wont work. Many new games dont support directx9 anymore, and winXP dont support 10/11 (there is a trick to make a game think it does, but thats only a hack to trick the system, not a real ability to use it, and if game uses the new features that directx has it wont run. basically XP for gaming is no longer an option. Win7 while i likel ess thna XP is still quite ok when you get used to it.

Microsofts say on the PC is utterly irrelevant though aside from the OS market. Indies can still self publish on PC just fine without going through Microsofts store. Some go through platforms like Steam ect while some like game dev tycoon and Minecraft sell the game on their own website and you just download the installer and away you go.

As much as Microsoft wants to it can't restrict indies or anyone else on the PC because of the open nature of the platform,you can install whatever the hell you like and they can't do a thing about it.

And one day someone will make a PC OS that will replace Windows , maybe it will be sooner rather than later if they keep making mistakes like not making a tablet OS for PCs.

Not for long. Win 8 has a application checked, that if used can allow only certain programs to even exist on your PC. while currently we are given the option to set it the way we want, it is extremely easy for MS to run a "autoamted update" and make sure win8 simply wont run gameX. they so far wont do it while win8 is still a minority. but remmeber what otrage there was when VIsta came out, bigger than wi8 makes now, and yet majority now use win 7. in time they WILL control what games you can play on PC.
Also there are other OS for PC. in fact, over 300 versions of them. neither are up to par with exception of some specific (non-gaming) tasks. They are good to run servers though.

 

[Roxor]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I think Microsoft is looking for an excuse to get out of the games business.