Following the news that Microsoft would allow for complete indie self publishing on the Xbox One, a reversal from not only the expected policies for their next generation console, but also from how they handled this on the Xbox 360, Microsoft have released a bit more details to quell any further fears that indie developers might be getting the short end of the stick on the Xbox One. Specifically, Phil Spencer took to Twitter to allay any suspicions that indie developers would get access to a limited set of tools and resources on the console.
When Spencer was asked whether indies would indeed be limited to just the 3GB in the console’s Windows partition, he responded: “Goal is to allow devs access to full pool of resources available, no indie RAM limit.”
He also talked about discoverability of indie games on the Xbox Live, another concern that carries over from Xbox Live, which made it very difficult for regular users to find indie games. Spencer detailed how this would work on the Xbox One:
“We are committed to creating a search tools and marketplace pivots to allow you to find games you’ll like,” he said. “More details to come. Likely pivot is ‘Most Popular’ giving you a view of what people are buying regardless of how it is published.”
It sounds like Microsoft is working extra hard to work with indies and give them a flexible, powerful platform tailored to their liking. Considering how hard Sony and Nintendo have worked towards the same end, it’s good that Microsoft isn’t ignoring indie developers either, especially now that they represent such an important niche of modern gaming.
[Thanks, CVG!]