Microsoft no longer charges developers to patch their Xbox 360 games

Microsoft no longer charges developers for Xbox 360 title updates, Eurogamer has been told by multiple development sources.

Microsoft made the policy change on the quiet earlier this year after charging developers tens of thousands of dollars to patch their games.

Microsoft has always charged a fee when developers first submit their games to Microsoft's certification process so they can be approved for release, and the company normally grants developers one title update free of charge. This remains the case, but sources have told Eurogamer that subsequent re-certification as a result of a title update is now free. This applies to Xbox Live Arcade games and full retail games.

[green]

This is great news for smaller developers and publishers.

[Blackdeath_663]

curious how it specifically says xbox 360 does that mean devs will still have to pay on the XBone?

[US8F]

They still can't self publish.....

[GameCents]

Curious how you wanna point out every little bit of negative about a positive xbox 360 related story.

Does it eat you up when there's positivity surrounding Microsoft?

[Perjoss]

@GameCents

it just looks like a good question to me

[Blankolf]

It's great news, but looking to your name, you do not look to be to imparcial good sir.

[CandyCaptain]

US8F

It's rumored that today they might announce that they can, we'll see though. *Fingers crossed*

[humbleopinion]

Of course they can self Publish. It's called the Indie Channel.

[Septic]

Don't know how anyone can disagree with your statement green. It's undeniably a good thing.

[Jdoki]

Whilst I don't disagree...

I do think that by having a charge in place for devs to patch games may provide incentive to launch less buggy software.

If I knew you had to pay $1000 every time I needed to patch something I would definitely spend more time on QA. Customer wins!

If I knew it was free to patch, then why not get the software out quicker and patch later and repeatedly.

[baodeus]

@jdoki

It is true what you said. Although removal of patching cost may have to do with the fact that the console required to be online at all times (so developers can patch and fix error remotely without the need for approval, which could be faster than waiting for payment or QA hrs). So technically your game/system will fix itself while you as sleep or in the background while you play. It seems a bit more flexible for developers in that sense.

[pompombrum]

I think it's pathetic that they charged for this to begin with. Charging developers to better their game experience for the gamers.. that's really really low.

[testerg35]

Or it could teach devs to stop releasing buggy games?

[Mikeyy]

@testerg35

Features get added in via patches also.

Yes it was low to charge to patch a game.

[3-4-5]

Cool.....now that everyone has moved on to the next consoles this doesn't even matter.

They are captain Hindsight

[snipab8t]

Good, hopefully this will mean faster updates for games rather than devs having to compile a whole bunch to save money.

[mark134uk]

i cant belive that actually used to do it?

[GameCents]

SONY still do.

[CandyCaptain]

I am curious if you know how ironic, and hypocrital you are being right now, in relation to your comment above.

[GameCents]

Just highlighting that it is an industry norm that they are breaking. 2/3 console makers used to do it is what I was trying to convey.

I was just suprised at how many people didn't seem to believe it as if it were an isolated practice. Judging by my disagrees, many still do. Baffling.

[Bereaver]

Yes, but I'm curious as to how you wanna point out every little bit of negative.

[otakukidd]

Actually Microsoft is the last one. Nintendo and Sony already said they were doing it for next gen. One of the reasons indie revs have been signing up with Sony. Kinda curious what their Xbox one policy is though.

[DragonKnight]

@CandyCaptain and Bereaver: You have just witnessed fanboy hypocrisy. You are wasting your time trying to get a logical explanation when the answer is quite simply that GameCents likes Microsoft, so talking bad about them will be pointed out. GameCents either dislikes Sony, or is just trolling, so talking good about them is a no-no.

[testerg35]

DragonKnight, I believe you also constantly defend Sony and continuously bash MS... No?

[DragonKnight]

@testerg35: Nope. It seems like that because I'm always in Sony articles attacking stupidity, but I'm not defending Sony per se. When people say stupid things like what was going on from the month of February to E3 when it came to Sony's policies on used games, and they tried to lump Sony in with Microsoft, I spoke out about it. It's not my fault that Microsoft have been consistently stupid lately and everyone has called them out on it, and then fanboys like GameCents (and probably yourself since you're defending him and/or Microsoft) try anything they can to once again lump bad policies from one company to another. I mean, even if I didn't say anything at all, you can clearly see others feel the same way about what GameCents is doing and, on a larger scale, the differences between Sony and Microsoft lately.

[pyramidshead]

Not sure about PS3 games but I don't think they are any more for PS4 etc..
http://www.edge-online.com/...

"Hall added that Sony’s free patching policy is preferable because there are a lot of bugs in DayZ. “It’s gonna take a long time for us to be able to iron this out and we don’t wanna have to be paying ten, twenty thousand dollars – whatever it is – every time we wanna do an update.”

[MikeMyers]

testerg35, the answer is clearly yes and that dates back long before the Xbox One.

[sentury111]

Good to hear. It appears MS is going down a checklist of complaints and acting to correct them.

[chamber]

How about for X Box one games?

[Hayabusa 117]

You mean they actually DID that at all? Does Sony do this as well? Wow..well, it's great they've changed it now I guess, although I'm now a little worried they might have kept the policy on the XBox One since the article only mentioned the 360.

Microsoft really should allow devs to self publish on the Xbox One.

[SjaakHaas]

It's not that strange if you think about it. Charging for an update keeps the focus on a good update package. A developper will combine multiple updates in one and will test those fixes better before releasing the update if it costs money to do so.

Just like apple charges 99 dolar a year for developers for iPhone apps. Not only to keep the support up and running but also to keep out the nitwits.

[GameCents]

Yes SONY still do. About $40 000 per patch.
This means only the certification process stands between gamers and getting regular patches on 360. Great news for indies on the 360.

I hope MS reconsiders their indy policy as far as the One is concerned.

@otakukid. Do you not see the xbox 360 in the title? Does the xbox 360 compete with next gen consoles? Clearly I'm refering to the ps3. In which case, yes they still charge for patches.

[otakukidd]

Not next gen

[otakukidd]

Yeah I did, also noticed that you made note multiple times that Sony does also. If you are going to point something out,at least don't take a slanted view to make it.Yes they do,for the ps3. Sony and Nintendo also already said they were dropping it for the wiiu and ps4. Yeah the Xbox 360 doesn't compete with next gen. But saying Sony does it is not true because of the ps4. I can't say Microsoft doesn't do it because we don't know for the one.

[DragonKnight]

@GameCents: And with that number you pulled out of that place where the sun doesn't shine, you've proven that you're disinterested in "highlighting an industry norm" and are more interested in making Sony look bad and Microsoft look good.

[GameCents]

@dragonknight. I suppose the sun really doesn't shine no the internet. http://www.technobuffalo.co...

Anything else you'd like to add? No? Good.

[DragonKnight]

@GameCents: That article doesn't mention who charges $40,000, just that it's charged. Tim never specified one or both.

[MikeMyers]

Gamecents, publishers used to also be unhappy with PSN download charges.

http://www.ps3news.com/PS3-...

Now that multiplayer will be behind a paywall much like Xbox Live I expect Sony will partnering themselves better with 3rd party publishers.

People used to complain about Live fees (and still do) but Microsoft also did stuff on their end to help alleviate some of the pressures of putting games online. Activision for example talked about how Microsoft handled the servers while Sony left it up to publishers. So that added an extra burden to them and games like Call of Duty seemed to have more issues on the PS3, especially at launch because of server demand. This is why Xbox Live Cloud is being marketed so much because now they have access to dedicated servers and it's handled by Microsoft. Publishers don't have to guess how many servers to allocate, it will handle the load if the game sells 1 million or 20 million.

@DragonKnight,

He said consoles, plural. How much more needs to be spelled out for you?

http://www.psu.com/forums/s...

[MajorLazer]

Nice to see MS listening to feedback. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and whatnot and this may be an indication that more policies will change in the not too distant future.

[Grown Folks Talk]

The way I see it, it gives devs an incentive to get it right the 1st time. Don't want to pay? Quit releasing bug riddled junk.

[Automatic79]

This will help small developers continue to push excellent games on Xbox live. Kudos MS

[SjaakHaas]

And help bad developers to push a lot of crap to Xbox live. :)

[mmj]

The Xbox 360 is as good as dead, it's not like they'd make massive amounts from it anyway given the lack of future software. Microsoft is predictability putting all of it's eggs in the Xbone basket and dropping 360 like a lead balloon, as they did the original Xbox.

[Animal Mutha 76]

Seriously??? You can't really think that can you? Is PS3 also as good as dead? PS2 says hi.

There is 70M Xbox 360s out there with at least 40M on Live. MS wouldn't be very smart to crap on their potential upgrade user base by forgetting 360 and developers aren't suddenly going to ignore such a large user base either. Expect to see EA etc. releasing software on PS3 and 360 for at least the first 1-2 years of next gen.

Try harder eh.

[Jdoki]

Considering how long it's been since I bought a game on 360... Yeah it's dead to me.

Considering the half arsed lip service they gave to 360 at E3... Yeah, it's pretty much dead.

Sure it'll get some 3rd party releases, big deal. Where's swan song? Where's the God of War Ascension? The Last of Us? MS has, to all intents and purposes, abandoned the 360.

It'll be interesting to see if the 360 is still getting games released 13 years after launch. FIFA 14 will be the last release for PS2 in September this year.

[vikingland1]

MS already stated that they will be backing Xbox 360 for years. According to your thought process I should throw my 360 & PS3 away. That's pretty dumb.

[mmj]

PS3 will be supported with games for many more years, just like PS1 & PS2 were.

By 2015 Xbox 360 will be a baron wasteland.

[vikingland1]

@mmj
I hope not I will have to wait and see.

[Grown Folks Talk]

Isn't 2015 2 years away?

[testerg35]

mmj, and wouldn't that be nearing the 10yr mark? So 10yrs isn't supporting???

[vikingland1]

@Grown Folks Talk
You are correct. Plus your name is great.

@testerg35
You too are correct'

[1nsomniac]

A great solution to a problem that never should of been there in the first place. Well done!

[BlazeXXL]

A double-edged sword... On one hand it's great for small indies and little companies that do not have a big budget, on the other hand it's bad news because it's easier to release incomplete games on the marketplace..

Like Grown Folks Talk said: it gives devs an incentive to get it right the first time. However, there will always be bugs or problems that you can't foresee when releasing a product, and it's a bitter pill to swallow as a little company when you find out about it and have to pay even more..

What kind of policy does Sony operate regarding this topic?

[Oxygene2o3]

Damn you microsoft, always behind the road of Sony, Sony said the same thing for the dev's long ago

[testerg35]

I think that's for PS4 and not pS3.

[Wizziokid]

wow well done MS...

[Agent_00_Revan]

Why the hell did they charge for developers to fix their games in the first place?

[Sm00thNinja]

Playing catch up better late than never I guess though. Microsoft is trying they deserve tht much credit without a PS4 does it better argument

[Enigma_2099]

This is great news.... but you waited until NOW to do this?!?!?!

[Hicken]

Yeah, I think it's pretty late. Especially since they've already had so much bad press regarding their relationship with indies. To waive fees on their console in the outgoing generation looks good, but is also kinda weak.

[maniacmayhem]

Why is it weak? It's a step in the right direction to get more indies and indie games on to their platform.

And wouldn't this count for good news for some good press? Yet this is swept under the rug and it is still met with backlash here on N4G. I think this would definitely count as "media bias".
HA! Remember that buzz word from long ago?

Sony used to charge for patches for the PS3 too and have now waived it for their PS4. Is it also too late for them or kinda weak?

Hopefully MS will get rid of the ridiculous publishing rule. (which I truly think they will ... hopefully)

[Enigma_2099]

@maniacmayhem

They've burned a lot of bridges with indie devs in the past. And then they wait until Sony starts courting the same devs they drove away to finally do something this good for them. It's weak because they took so d*** long to do the right thing and it's basically a knee-jerk reaction to the competition.

[maniacmayhem]

So you would rather them do nothing?

This is what I don't understand, MS is damned if they do and damned if they don't. They are trying to get back indie games to be on their system. This means more games for the X1, but most of you are to focused on the negatives and comparing everything to what the others are doing to see the bright side.

But it is the internet so I guess i'm the one in the wrong. My bad, carry on...

[Enigma_2099]

@maniacmayhem

Where the hell did you read me saying that? I said that it was a good thing... BUT WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG TO DO IT!!!

Quit creating drama.