Microsoft said Indie Publishers will be able to set release dates, pricing on Xbox Live games; certification process to be similar to iTunes Seems Microsoft is getting into the swing of things when it comes to reversing its policies. Just recently Xpgamesaves reported on the reversal of the DRM policies when MS did a U-turn on its always online requirements. Now it looks as though Microsoft could be backing down off another, as its been reported that the company will allow independent developers to self-publish their games on Xbox Live. The outlet's sources say that developers will be able to make the call on their games' release dates and pricing. Additionally, Microsoft is looking to make its certification process more like iTunes, with a targeted 14-day window from submission to approval. That will mean the company's examination of game code will be more cursory, covering primarily terms of service breaches and major bugs. Finally, Game Informer reports that the standard Xbox One retail unit will be convertible to a debug console that can play pre-release code. Instead of having two different hardware setups, Microsoft will just authorize specific consoles to play unfinished code. The same process is expected to work for large-scale beta testing of games as well.
This is great news. I really like that the retail console can act like a dev kit to an extent. Great news for the indie crowd.
