It looks like Microsoft is backtracking on another of its unpopular policies regarding its new console, the Xbox One. Microsoft has released news today that the Xbox One will be open to indie development and self publishing, in major contradiction to the company’s previous policy of tightly curated indie releases.
Microsoft hasn’t released all the specifics, but it seems the Xbox one will now encourage indy development with simplified publishing and certification model that’s similar to iTunes. Also, every Xbox One can be used as a debug unit, which can run in-progress game code. Debug units generally cost considerably more than regular consoles, but Microsoft has a plan to remotely enable any console to run code that’s in development.
This is a great move by Microsoft and has the potential to usher in a new era of indie development. Who said consoles are dead?
Xbox Corporate Vice President, Marc Whitten confirmed the Xbox One’s new openness and hinted at big things to come at next month’s Gamescom in a statement:
“Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We’ll have more details on the program and the timeline at gamescom in August.”
[Via: Game Informer]