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Devs express disappointment with Xbox One over Twitter

Microsoft's Matt Booty affirmed earlier today that digital publishing policies on Xbox One would be no different than they were on Xbox 360. Any hope that Microsoft would right the ship that has inconvenienced a good number of former XBLA devs went down the drain after we learned that indies still won't be able to self-publish their wares. Never mind that just about every other viable platform gives them flexible options, because Microsoft is having none of it.

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destructoid.com
Qrphe3989d ago

The lack of self-publishing is really shocking. A year ago, I was expecting Microsoft to try to turn the system more open like the Windows OS's since they were integrating Win8 in some way or the other; it's the total opposite of what I expected.

Snookies123989d ago

I had some high hopes for the Xbox One... Maybe this is the wake up call MS needs though. If not, they're going to find themselves in a hole they can't get out of.

I_am_Batman3989d ago

Same here. I wonder if the wake up call is too late for them though. The dev reactions are the exact opposite of the ones for the ps4. Microsoft has a lot of work to do if they want to turn it around (if that is even possible at this state).

kneon3989d ago

Not necessarily, apart from the weaker hardware almost all other issues are software and business related and so can potentially still be fixed.

MikeMyers3989d ago (Edited 3989d ago )

Microsoft dropped the ball on indies, especially when you have someone like Tim Schafer (one of the most likeable people around) saying boo.

Sony should keep advertising how well they work with them.

What's sad is it looks like Microsoft is treating indies like they do with big franchises, wanting to only support indie games they think can sell well. That's not the attitude that will help them.

BitbyDeath3989d ago

MS seem to have the same problem with the OS market as well.

Win95 - Good
Win98 - Bad
Win2000 - Good
WinME - Bad
Xp - Good
Vista - Bad
Win7 - Good
Win8 - Bad

Xbox - Bad
360 - Good
XbO - Bad

Maybe Xbox TWO will do better

HappyGaming3989d ago

@BitbyDeath You forgot Windows 99, 98 was good for its time :P

I recently noticed the same pattern. People buy XP so assume the new windows will be worth it and buy Vista. It breaks their PC so much they are forced to wait and buy Windows 7 which is good and people assume the next one will be even better.

And the cycle continues!

fr0sty3989d ago

@kneon

first impressions are key, however, and this hasn't been a good one. consumer confidence in the brand has taken a huge hit.

xxV0rschlaghammer3989d ago

@BitbyDeath LOL I've been in the PC tech industry for years now and MS has always had major blunders, I do however think the first Xbox was pretty good, even though during that generation I actually preferred the Gamecube

FTLightspeed3989d ago

@BitbyDeath how was the OG xbox bad? it was better then the PS2 AND the gamecube.

Masta_fro3989d ago

I think every gamer should watch this...its hilarious!!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

nveenio3988d ago

We were starting a new generation, and my pocket book was up for grabs. Everything was fair game. The PS4 impressed me, but I really thought Microsoft was going to lure me back. Instead, they pushed me away. Even when I watched the trailer for Ryse, I thought, "Eh...Crytek isn't the greatest, but this might convince me to pick up a new Xbox..." And then I saw that it was a Kinect game.

*sigh*

darthv723988d ago

Self publishing applies to games that would appear in the "Indie" games section. That has long been the norm and is even the same case for Indie games on the PS store.

If an Indie dev wants their game put into the bigger more lucrative sections, that is where they need to partner up with a bigger publisher. there is no blocking of an indie dev to release their game.

The problem with the way its all phrased is people are assuming that if a dev cant self publish, they cant get their game on the service. That is wrong. It only applies to "WHERE" their game is listed.

Its like in retail markets. A product is generally placed where it fits. If a company wants their product at the front of the line, they pay extra for that privilege. EVERY company has the right to do that but some lack the funds to do it.

There is a false representation going on here. By all means i support indie devs but that is why they are called indie devs. they have their own section in both the Live marketplace as well as the PS store.

These smaller devs want their wares put in the bigger sections of both services because of the higher volume of traffic those sections generally have. They CAN do that but it will cost them OR they make a deal with a bigger publisher to do it for them.

I dont know if its some sort of entitlement mentality they are trying to push. Meaning that because they make a game and want to sell it on the PS store and live that they deserve the same section as games from bigger publishers. well...no offense but that is why both services created the categories for "Indie" games. So those types of games dont get lost in the shuffle of other big dev/published games.

Support the indie developers by buying their wares and word of mouth. The more popular their title becomes, it would naturally escalate up the ranks in the service and could help them get picked up by a larger publisher which can lead to them being put into the same category as the bigger arcade games on both services.

andibandit3988d ago

@DarthV

quite a wall of text, but i read through it like a Dan Brown book. Nicely written.

blackbeld3988d ago

@masta

Hahahaha that was funny awesome!!

Thank you for the laugh.

+ Show (10) more repliesLast reply 3988d ago
Ashlen3989d ago

Windows 8 is the most closed version of Windows to date. Most people agree that the direction Microsoft wants to move is towards a more ap based system where they can control what makes it onto there system like Google and Apple.

maxgamehard3989d ago

It looks like M$ is no longer competing with Sony and Nintendo rather they are competing with Google and Apple.

showtimefolks3989d ago

sony and nintendo both offer developers to self publish so its shocking that ms isn't allowing that with xbox one

but also i think MS is testing the water and will make the proper changes at E3, atleast i hope because some of their moves are head scratches to say the least

Godmars2903989d ago

Sony and Nintendo are largely following the example MS set. Which still doesn't excuse MS's inflexibility.

Darrius Cole3989d ago

Microsoft isn't going to right any ship, they are doing exactly what they have wanted to do all along. They want to eliminate the used games market. In order to do that small developers must be forced to play ball or else. Can't have them going off the reservation later.

jetlian3989d ago

what does the used market have to do with indie devs Darrius? indie game would be dled anyway so there is nothing to sell used.

I think it has to do with people like phil fish not being able to pay to fix their game! If phil fish was backed by EA or Activision they would have payed the 30k or whatever it cost to fix the game so as not to stir the pot

maxgamehard3989d ago

Look at what the creator of Minecraft said.

https://twitter.com/notch/s...

And even Tim Schaefer is upset.

https://twitter.com/TimOfLe...

Did M$ not see what Sony has been doing. Or have they seen what they are doing but just don't care because they are making this console for a different crowd.

RandomDude6553988d ago

You're talking about the company that had a funeral for the iphone when windows 8 phone was about to launch.

They are a bit delusional and are suffering a large amount of groupthink.

Tsar4ever013989d ago (Edited 3989d ago )

Ya'll should look at these 2 guys rants at youtube, Sooo hilarious!!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Pintheshadows3988d ago

I like the angry metal head.

WayneJ3603988d ago

Its gonna be running 3 OS's you guys need to listen to everything they say Im sure Windows 8 will be one of the 3 since im running Win 8 now and has some functions on 360 already :)

otherZinc3988d ago

I'm not buying a next gen console for indie games!

TheLyonKing3988d ago

Missing out. Indie games are amazing and well crafted like Fez, journey and bastion.

Cueil3988d ago

Journey was published by Sony and Fez and Bastion initially got their starts through Microsoft who clearly wasn't draconic and made them stay exclusive. Most indie games are on PC and even with a basic rig you'll be able to play 99 percent of them. I'm holding out hope we see some verion of XBLIG as well as the ability to publish apps through the Win8 store to Xbox One.

PiTCHBLaCK3988d ago

You're truly missing out!.

Cueil3988d ago

seems Major Nelson was hinting at something as did Aaron Greenberg... perhaps we'll see some form of XBLIG come to Xbox One also there is the Windows side that theoretically you can put your Win8 game apps on. There are still a ton of things and this is software based so maybe the voice is loud enough that the people who want it in Microsoft will get the boost to give it the go ahead.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 3988d ago
SexyGamerDude3989d ago (Edited 3989d ago )

I really had high hopes for this system. All it has turned into is Microsoft forcing their crap onto us. The fees, the forced installs, and the internet requirements are all crap. Now they do this. They want to be another Apple or Google.

You could have at least worked with Google, so One buyers (whoever they are) wouldn't have to use that crap IE.

FlameHawk3989d ago (Edited 3989d ago )

Lol even the Console exclusive dev are talking bad about it; Super Meat Boy and Fez. Lmao what a blow to Microsoft.

SexyGamerDude3989d ago

The creator of Minecraft even commented. Do you know how popular Minecraft is? Every time I hop on my dashboard I see a Mine craft add. What's going to take it's place now?

Sarobi3989d ago

"But honestly, after their reveal yesterday, does anyone really WANT to make games for it?" - Terry Cavanagh

Indie support goes a long way, and right now MS doesn't seem to be getting it.

M-M3989d ago

It's amazing how rumors and developer praise for the PS4 are all coming to together and are starting to make sense. I honestly can't believe what Microsoft is doing, what were they thinking?

Rusty5153988d ago

Haha. I read the last sentence in the avgn's voice.

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70°

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Disney Dreamlight Valley devs have officially teased the second part of the paid expansion titled The Spark of Imagination.

70°

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190°

Bethesda Needs to Reduce the Gaps Between New Fallout and Elder Scrolls Releases

Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.

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gamingbolt.com
-Foxtrot13h ago

Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.

Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.

When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.

The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.

If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.

We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.

RaidenBlack11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland

KyRo7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Obsidian should take over the FO IP. They're do far better with it than Bethesda who hasn't made a great game for almost 15 years

RaidenBlack1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

@KyRo
So, by 15 years, you mean Fallout 3 was the last great game Bethesda made?
You don't consider Skyrim a good game, which came out 13 years ago?
I'd consider Fallout 4 a pretty decent game as well. It's Story & RPG elements were a bit downgrade from New Vegas but the exploration and shooting on the other hand, were upgrades.
FO76 was disappointing and Starfield could've been better at launch I'll agree.

Duke197h ago(Edited 7h ago)

I disagree. Part of these games is the support for the mod community. If they move to releasing a "next game" every 2 or 3 years, the modding support plummets and the franchises turn into just another run of the mill RPG.

Make the games good enough to withstand the test of time, to keep people coming back to them and expanding on them with mod support.

--Onilink--4h ago(Edited 4h ago)

I dont think anyone is saying they need to come out every 2 years (not to mention almost no game is released that quickly anymore)

By the time Fallout 5 comes out, it will be more than 15 years since Fallout 4 came out (same with ES6 coming out 15 years after Skyrim). Even if you want to use F76 as the metric for the most recent release, that one came out in 2018. It will be a miracle if F5 comes out before 2030

The point is that for a studio that doesnt seem to operate with multiple teams doing several projects at once, that their projects normally take 4-5 years as a minimum, and that now they even added Starfield to the rotation, it becomes a 15+ years waiting period between releases for each series, which doesnt make sense. Imagine that Nintendo only released a mainline Mario or Zelda game every 15 years…

They either need to start developing more than 1 project at a time, let someone else take a crack at one of the IPs or significantly reduce their development times

Duke193h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs? Look at what happened to Final Fantasy as a recent example - there is pretty clear FF fatigue setting in because they are now pumping out titles in the franchise every few years. Pumping out more games faster doesn't always make a series better.

There are plenty of options to make new games, not just create more titles in the same universe at a faster pace.

-Foxtrot38m ago

"Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs"

He's literally just told you why

We're waiting like 15 years before a sequel comes out, it's insane

Skyrim came out in 2011, the next game is expected to come out in 2027 at the earliest so that's 16 years apart while Fallout 4 came out in 2015 and might not release until 2031, again 16 years.

We're fine with Bethesda trying new things and doing new IPs like Starfield but adding a new game to the cycle now means a bigger wait. Also Starfield didn't meet most peoples expectations, can you imagine waiting 15 years or so for a sequel and it's disappointing? It would feel even worse because you would have to wait another 15 years to see if they manage to come back from it.

They need to give it to another developer, we don't need main numbered titles but a spin off of Fallout and Elder Scrolls should be cycled in between the long gaps of the main releases.

Once again you are making out people want these games as quick as possible when all we want is a standard development time of at least 4 years or so rather than waiting 15.

mandf4h ago

Yeah I’m going to say it, who cares about the modding community when making a game? Half the time developers only tolerate modders because they fix there game for them.

Skuletor6h ago

Yeah, let's all advocate for smaller gaps between series' releases, then we'll probably get headlines about how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven. Let them cook.

SimpleSlave5h ago

"how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven" So every Bethesda game then? Got it.

Listen, I would agree if this was about From Software or something, but Bethesda?

🤣

C'mon now. What timeline are you from?

Skuletor3h ago

Think about it, they're already bug filled messes on their current schedule, can you imagine how much worse it would be if they rushed things?

-Foxtrot34m ago

@Skuletor

Who's saying to rush the releases? No one is saying that...

People just don't want to be waiting 15 years for a sequel, they aren't working on the game for that long, you do realise that right? The issue isn't coming down to them working on the game and us "rushing them", it's the fact they are working on other games like Starfield now meaning bigger gaps before they even get started on them.

I bet you any more Elder Scrolls VI only entered full development last year when Starfield was finished despite being announced in 2018.

Duke193h ago

I mean you aren't wrong. People are going to complain about anything

isarai5h ago

Hows about you focus on quality, just a thought 🤷‍♂️

Sciurus_vulgaris4h ago

Bethesda [or Microsoft] would have to reallocate internal and external studios towards fallout and elder scrolls titles. Bethesda has the issue of developing 2 big IPs that are large RPGs on rotation. If you want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls, development will have to be outsourced.

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