Indies sing praises for ID@Xbox. Has Microsoft finally done right by indie developers?

"There seemed to be a silent but universal acknowledgement amongst all indies that Microsoft had dropped the ball early on with the Xbox One "

"Some developers even stated that they found it easier to port their games on to Xbox than PlayStation"

[Volkama]

Microsoft heard all of the complaints about their policies and decided you rectify all the problems. With a new policy.

"You must say nice things about ID@XBox or you will never be allowed to release a game again. Also we may break one or both of your legs."

[Gazondaily]

Ha! Well you never know, this is MS we are talking about.

I was expecting quite a few criticisms but a lot of the indies there said it was great.

It wasn't a case of 'don't bite the hand that feeds' either because I went round asking devs whose games weren't coming out on X1 about the initiative and they said that while they've been in talks with MS, they found them really receptive.

What struck me is the fact that a small outfit containing just two people (one dev) can go to MS and get help all the way through. I thought there were many hurdles to jump but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Volkama]

This particular policy applies to indie devs that haven't even applied to the program. Everyone has legs after all.

[DragonKnight]

@Septic: Come on, even you have to admit that now this program is completely redundant. If Microsoft is simply going to ignore every policy that the program has in place, why not just go Sony's route, be done with it, and they'll never have the stigma of this program hanging over their heads again.

[Dudebro90]

Policies weren't changed. The internet, like it always does, spread wrong information about a policy that was never fully exposed.

[Sitdown]

Shocker... The first post on positive Xbox news has negative overtones.

[Volkama]

It was actually intended as a light-hearted joke. No tones running over it or under it.

[Software_Lover]

............. *frog clears throat*.............

[Bigpappy]

I would first like to say that I recognized that it was a joke right away.

Now I would like to point out that I could not have made a joke like that here especially if it was aimed at the PS4.

What is probably getting you some flack on the comment, is that some PS fan and M$ hater, actually believe that is how M$ operates and it can be offensive to some M$ supporters who may find it in bad taste and not funny.

[Pogmathoin]

Time to end this $ony and M$ crap.....if you substitute P with S for Sony, automatic ban as its considered insulting.... But using $ for MS all the time is allowed, why? Mods?

[DragonKnight]

@Pogmathoin: LMAO! Time to end the crap and then you go right ahead and continue it. You don't bother actually thinking about what you're going to type before or while typing it do you?

[Tedakin]

Cuphead looks neat.

[fiveby9]

The persistent problem is do you trust MS? If they have rectified a problem that is fine. However, their initial considered business strategy was very restrictive for Indie devs. MS has no choice but to reverse direction on so many of their policies as they are losing market share compared to the previous generation platform. Thankfully robust competition has kept MS in check. Without it, imagine where MS would take gaming.

[Gazondaily]

"Thankfully robust competition has kept MS in check. Without it, imagine where MS would take gaming."

Fair point but I would say the same about any company. Without competition, there is little incentive for any company to prioritise good will over profit. This industry has proven that time and time again over the years.

[fiveby9]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[hello12]

Sorry Microsoft is not losing market share because of indies it lost market share because of what happened in 2013 and lot of gamers still view the PS4 as being stronger on the hardware front.

imagine where MS would take gaming? Microsoft gave us the modern version of online gaming providing us with x box live before Sony did. Sony had no party chat until Microsoft brought it out the company who has changed gaming for the better was Microsoft and will do so again.

Anyway back to topic
Indies are fine by me as long as they are good but i don't want to see crap games on x box 1 any sane person would think the same way.

[Volkama]

It's inevitable that crap games are going to get through. The key thing is whether it is easy to identify the good ones. Microsoft seem to do a pretty good job on the curation side of things.

Sometimes their automated recommendations are a bit bonkers though. "You downloaded Limbo (for free), you should try Dead or Alive!".

Bonkers curation not limited to games. "Watch Pink Panther The Movie! Recommended because you watched The Terminator".

[imt558]

Quote :

"Anyway back to topic
Indies are fine by me as long as they are good but i don't want to see crap games on x box 1 any sane person would think the same way."

Indie are fine now? Didn't you said before that Xbone fans doesn't care about indies?

[rainslacker]

We don't have to imagine. MS showed us where they wanted to take gaming, and people didn't like it.

Where are they going to take indie devs? All indie devs need is a place to release their game, but if MS could provide strong engine support to get dev support then that'd be awesome. Think there was something with Unity on that front last I heard.

People perceive Sony as having the stronger hardware because they actually do have the stronger hardware, at least on paper. Don't care to discuss all the variables though. Proof is in the pudding though, and current games show the difference in power. If the X1 becomes equal or better on this front, then people will change their perception. Just hope it doesn't happen 3-4 years from now, because by then it'll probably be too late.

As far as indies, and the topic, you'll see crap games on all systems. YOu have to take the good with the bad, and it's not the console makers job to say what is a crap game. Doesn't matter if it's indie, mid-tier, or AAA, shovelware will make it's way. What's it matter if they exist so long as the good games are there? All you have to do is not play them.

[Software_Lover]

Finally done right?

They made an entire f'n games section for them last gen. Put them on the console map.

[Bigpappy]

LOL. It is amazing how some have such short memories. All of a sudden, M$ has been horrible to indies, and they are getting in the way of them bringing their games to console.

I am tired of shaking my head. When most of the gaming public hadn't a clue what indies even were, M$ made a Whole f'n section for them and let them load up the server with 99.9% crap. Now they seem to think there are in a position to demand even more.

I may sound like an indie hater. But nothing could not be further from the truth. I actually do support the little guy getting a break and going on to success. What I do not support is: 26 copies of Angry Bird and 40 copies of Mindcraft or any game that lacks imagination and has crappy gameplay mechanics.

[lemoncake]

It should get even easier to port when windows 10 roles around and xbox gets that update, interesting times ahead.

[Gamer1982]

"Some developers even stated that they found it easier to port their games on to Xbox than PlayStation"

One developer out of hundreds said that also the same with indies singing praises for Xbox. If they really were loving xbox so much they would be choosing it over ps4 but they don't. PS4 has a ton more indies coming out this year over xbox one and thats due to more consoles being out there and a lot more than 1 indie dev saying Sony are really good at helping the get there game on the platform and with any issues they have.

On the flip side though MS have publicly been trying to heal there image lately and kudos to them but they need to get rid of that stupid rule that stops devs releasing on xbox a couple of months later than ps4. That way Xbox would get a lot more indies and xbox gamers would have great games like no man sky coming too.

[Vestten]

Actually there are several indie developers coming out and saying it is easier to port their games to Xbox than PlayStation. Like i tell my kids when they are wrong, "Google It!" More and more indie developers are praising MS for how easy it is to port their titles and Win 10 will make it even easier. It took the developers who made Shove Knight less than 24 hours to port to Xbox.

[Yetter]

Such a dumb title. Indies wouldn't have a place on consoles if it wasn't for the xbox 360