Aaero from developer Madfellows Games might not quite what you expect from a typical action title as it sees players zooming through hyper-stylized environments and using the energy in music. The game itself has just over 100 user reviews on Steam so it’s interesting to hear how it sold more on the Xbox One than PS4.

GamingBolt got hold of Madfellows’ Paul Norris and when asked about how the Xbox One version sold more than the PS4, especially when the latter has more than double the install base, he noted that it was an interesting trend right now.

“This is an interesting one. I wasn’t aware this was news. I thought that all indies expect to sell more on Xbox at the moment. I’d be interested to hear other developer’s experience with this. I’m not sure if it’s that Xbox has a better attach rate or if it’s something more subtle and complicated.”

Norris revealed that Xbox had done more to help Madfellows promote its game. “But without big, AAA style campaigns, the results are marginal and indies still rely on the community and word of mouth and Aaero is marketed as a multi-platform game.”

Microsoft has had its ups and downs with indie games. From introducing a horribly strict policy in 2013 to smoothening things over later (but raising red flags over its so-called parity clause), the company has been making good on promoting and developing indie titles under its ID@Xbox label. That being said, we still see more indie developers preferring to stick to the PS4 and PC platforms than Xbox.

What was Norris’s experience with them? When told Microsoft was reportedly hard to work with, he said, “Frankly, it’s the polar opposite of that. My guess is that we may have been in the right place at the right time when Microsoft were doing everything to repair their reputation with indies but we’ve never experienced any problems at all. We’ve found them much more approachable than other platforms.

“Having developed the game simultaneously on all 3 platforms, it’s Microsoft that offered, by far the most help. We’ve been displayed on the ID@Xbox stand at many EGX, Insomnia and even GDC shows. They also set up a press day where they invited a bunch of ID@Xbox developers to come along to their London offices and show our games to some of the top journalists. I don’t know what experience anyone else is having but they’ve been really great to us.”

What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s relationship with the indies? Let us know in the comments below.

The Xbox One X promises to be an extremely powerful console- it is the most powerful console ever made, and it definitely gives developers a lot of power to play with. But given that it represents a fraction of a fraction of the market – since most of the userbase is on the PS4, and most Xbox players will own a standard Xbox One – what are the odds developers make use of the extra power despite Sony’s PS4 install base?

This is the question we raised to Paul Norris of Mad Fellows Games, the developers of Aaero, and he believes that as long as utilization is being done for enhanced framerate and resolution, there is no reason to not tap into the Xbox One X’s resources. “I think if it’s a case of just setting the resolution to 4K, possibly upping texture resolution and letting it run at a better framerate there’s no reason for devs not to utilize the power if it’s there to use,” he said. “I think that’s the aim with Xbox One X as opposed to developing something completely bespoke for the system.”

Norris also chipped in on whether or not the One X will help Microsoft regain lost ground against Sony in sales- while he declined to give a definite answer one way or the other, he did say that it will be good overall for the market, and for gamers.

“It’s hard to say. I guess it may do in some regions of the world more than others. I think both platforms have a solid install base now and good support for and from developers. I don’t think there’s going to be any losers any time soon. I’d like to think there’s just going to be more options for gamers to choose the console that best suits their taste.”

The Xbox One X launches worldwide on November 7. Stay tuned for our full interview with Norris next week.

The Xbox One X is an extremely powerful system, and a far more accomplished piece of hardware than any other console currently on the market. So it’s a bit of a shame that it will be hamstrung by Microsoft not allowing any games that can leverage it fully- since each game will also have to run on the base Xbox One system. In a sense, it almost feels like a waste of all that power, right?

Paul Norris of Mad Fellows games, the developers of Aaero, disagrees, and he feels that not allowing for exclusives is the right move. “I don’t think Microsoft are holding back the Xbox One X,” Norris said. “If developers made games at 1080p that pushed the hardware then, of course, they’d be better than the current console but I don’t think that’s the objective with the One X.

“To run the games we are playing now on the Xbox One in 4K and at 60fps takes a considerable amount of extra power. I think that the Xbox One X is well suited to meet that particular challenge. To do this without alienating those that aren’t ready to upgrade yet is a good move, in my opinion.”

He does make sense- Microsoft, after all, have specifically designed the Xbox One X to run existing Xbox One games in 4K (which means it might not be good enough to run new exclusives appreciably better than existing consoles). Moreover, by making the Xbox One X a new console so soon after the Xbox One launched, Microsoft might risk alienating their most loyal base.

So, yes, it would have been good if Microsoft had made the Xbox One X a new console entirely- but given the larger context surrounding how things stand, I suppose it is for the best that they did not, and that they went the route they did. Now whether or not it pays off for them is something that remains to be seen.

Stay tuned for our full interview with Paul Norris in the coming days. In the meantime, check out a couple of gameplay videos from Aaero below.