Microsoft’s controversial parity clause – which became most apparent in its ID@Xbox indie development policy when it required developers to release their games on the same day for Xbox One as other platforms – is apparently no more.

Speaking to EDGE (via GamesRadar), Xbox division boss Phil Spencer was asked if the parity clause is dead. He replied that, “I think so. There’s this idea that’s been named ‘parity clause,’ but there is no clause…If there’s a developer who’s building a game and they just can’t get the game done for both platforms – cool. We’ll take a staggered release. We’ve done it before, and we’ll work with them on that.

“If another platform does a deal with you as a developer to build an exclusive version of your game for them, and you can’t ship on my platform for a year, when the game comes out in a year let’s just work together to make it special in some way

“People complained about that, but you did a deal with somebody else and you got paid for it and I’m happy – we do those same deals, so I’m not knocking you. It’s going to be better for you, actually, because people don’t want last year’s game, they want something special and new.”

Thoughts on this change? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Yesterday we brought you some information lifted from an interview ID@Xbox that highlighted some confusing points that seem to contradict the Xbox One Parity Clause. In a separate interview on a related subject, the creator of the succesful Kickstarter funded game Hyper Light Drifter, Alex Preston, has expressed his own opinion.

Speaking on The Inner Circle, Preston said, “It’s been great[ID@Xbox]. I’ve talked to a few of people now. Chris Charla was the person that we hooked up with to get involved in the first place. He’s awesome. He’s a great evangelist for indies on the platform. We’ve had a few other interactions and it’s been a very smooth experience overall. No complaints from me on them.”

He goes on to comment on the ID@Xbox program and says that there are problems on Sony’s end too, despite their platform being considerably more Indie friendly, he said, “The program has its issues like any program would that’s part of a large corporation. These problems exist on Sony’s side too, which is very indie friendly these days. Everyone solves their issues. Overall, it’s a marked improvement over last generation including the way they interact with people and the response time. It’s all been a very positive experience on our end. There are kinks that need to be worked out and the parity clause can be problematic. Overall, it’s much harder to complain about these programs now than it was 4-5 years ago.”

Having highlighted the fact that there are problems on both sides of the fence, Preston continues on to say that the Parity Clause can be a hindrance to smaller developers, but that he understands why it is in place. He said, “It’s a hinderance for smaller developers. I get why Microsoft have it in there for larger developers. Developers like us, even with the money we made on Kickstarter, find that a game is really expensive to make. People with even smaller budgets find it harder. You’re forcing them to do a lot of work up front to get on your platform instead of doing it when they can. You’re either telling them you can’t be on our platform, or spend $30,000 extra to get on here at the same time as you would on Sony’s platform.”

His final words seem to perfectly encapsulate the current situation, “It’s corporate culture. It’s small entities within larger entities, within all these different things. It’s complicated.”

Microsoft’s ID@Xbox indie development program for the Xbox One may be a vast improvement over the company’s initial stance – which represented a big middle finger to self publishing – but the company has come under fire from indie devs for its launch parity clause in the same.

Xbox vice president Phil Harrison spoke about the same to EDGE stating that, “Taking aside competitive positioning and all of that, the winners in all of this are game players. There are more games coming out for these platforms, there are more developers creating for these platforms, there are more fresh minds coming into our industry than any time in recent memory. And that’s so, so important to the future of our industry.”

Could the parity clause be removed in the near future? “It’s difficult to debate these kind of commercial relationships in a media interview so you’ll forgive me for not going into the details. What I would say is that everybody in our program, whether it’s a developer or people on the platform side working with Chris [Charla, ID@Xbox boss] is committed to making sure the best games are on Xbox One.

“That’s our job, basically, if you boil it all down to the essence of what a game platform is, it’s to make sure that the biggest, best, most exciting, most creative games are on your platform and we are working super hard to make that happen.”

Do you think the parity clause should be repealed in the coming months? Let us know in the comments.