250°

Xbox One's Indie Games Program Revealed At Last

After months of offering little more than variations of "don't worry, we'll have one," Microsoft is using their kick-off of the big Gamescom event in Germany this week to detail something called ID@Xbox. That is their indie games program. It'll roll out in stages.

Kingthrash3603934d ago

no details on revenue split?....oh no.

rainslacker3934d ago

Just says that devs can make up whatever price they want for their game, and MS will determine it's selling price on XBLive.

"They'll set wholesale prices for their games, Whitten said, with Microsoft's Xbox Live team then managing retail price and, presumably, placement in the store. Indie games will go through standard Xbox certification procedures, which Whitten hopes to have perpetually speed up. Certification and game patches/updates will be free to developers."

The free updates and certification is pretty good though. Guess it remains to be seen how good MS can manage the devs titles. Makes me wonder if devs can change their price, or offer sales or things along that nature.

drsfinest723934d ago

Pretty sure ms would keep most of the money.

Bundi3934d ago

That the new bullet against MS as far as indies are concerned? Proof? No? Then how exactly are you "sure" of this?

R00bot3934d ago (Edited 3934d ago )

He said "pretty sure", not: I am 100% sure ms would keep most of the money.

Anyway, it does seem likely that Microsoft would keep MOST of the money (most just means more than half), so the split could be 49-51, and Microsoft would still be getting most of the money.

I think with most consoles it's the same, with the actual indie dev making less than half of the profits, I might be wrong, though.

With Windows phones, an average 99cent app will give the dev only 15cents back, with microsoft taking the rest.

Snappy3934d ago

With all this back peddling lost my faith in this company. Still the more competition the better for gamers in general

wicked3934d ago

but I though everyone on N4G asked them to back peddle, so now they have done what was asked you're sill not happy and criticise them for doing it!

vigilante_man3934d ago

Put on a clown's outfit and spin around until you are sick.

Just because someone asks does not mean you should.

Does not bode well for your product when you have to make so many changes in public view before you even release. It makes you seem like you didn't know what you were doing in the first place.

The one thing we can see is that PS4 hit the mark in their reveal in Feb. Whereas MS were a shambles. But this is all history now. Let's concentrate on amazing next gen games.

dark-hollow3934d ago

So if they ignored the backlash and the lackluster pre-orders, they are arrogant and digging their own grave, but when they fix most of what was wrong with their console then they are "spineless"

It doesn't take a genius to know that MS was obviously ignorant to the gaming industry demands when they first announced the xbone. Wither they reversed the policies or not. So it's much better to fix whatever they could fix and hope that all this would be history in the upcoming years.

titletownrelo3934d ago (Edited 3934d ago )

THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

M$ is a H U G E corporate business, and they spent their ENTIRE summer hype period, running back and forth. Its UNACCEPTABLE and unprofessional.

And for them to say "Oh, we changed the policies because we listen and love our community." is complete BS! If they listened in the first place they wouldn't have tried to shove DRM down the throats of their fans.

The ONLY reason M$ changed ANYTHING about the Xbox ONE, is because SONY's PS4 was getting such amazing feedback and was/still is kicking M$'s ass in pre-orders.

3934d ago
FullMetalTech3934d ago

I think its a good idea in practice. But eventually MS will make money off the title. Im not sure keeping a game on their servers and not make a dime off of it is gonna make sense business wise. The split will be reasonable though imo.

150°

10 Biggest Xbox Mistakes of All Time (So Far)

The Xbox brand has done a lot of good over the years, but their various blunders are pretty wild to look back on in their magnitude.

Read Full Story >>
culturedvultures.com
piroh4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Ironically number 9 can save them at this point (releasing games on multiple platforms)

ChasterMies2d ago

By “save them” you mean make more profit for Microsoft. Xbox will still be a dying hardware platform.

OtterX3d ago

You could add the naming scheme for the consoles, it just confuses customers. I know they wanted to avoid traditional numbering bc it would always be lower than their competitor, but this whole 360 then One then Series thing is confusing af. Imagine a Soccer Mom trying to figure this stuff out. I still mistakenly call the Series X the One from time to time on accident.

RNTody3d ago

Don't forget about the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X! Good luck to Soccer moms around the world.

S2Killinit2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

They did that on purpose to confuse and direct attention away from the generational numbering.

MS doesn’t like reminding people that they joined the industry after others had already been involved in gaming.

For instance, they called the xbox “360” to combat PlayStation “3” because they wanted to seem like “more” than “3”, so instead of xbox 2, they opted for xbox 360. Also this had the additional benefit of selling consoles to uninformed parents who might purchase a “360” instead of a “3” by mistake, or because they thought 360 was more than 3. Kind of a disingenuous move.

They have been continuing with their confusing naming patterns for pretty much the same reasons. Frankly, it fits with who and what they are as a brand.

FinalFantasyFanatic2d ago

I can understand their reasoning, but whoever came up with that naming scheme should be fired, bad naming schemes have killed consoles (I'm pretty sure it was the major reason for the downfall of the WiiU). They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo and Sega have had for their consoles, far less confusing for the consumer.

Cacabunga3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Phil Spencer is the worst that has happened to Xbox.
They built a respectable brand up to Xbox one. Then this guy took over and things became a joke

Reaper22_3d ago

He still has his job. Something you can't say about Jim Ryan.

Cacabunga3d ago

Both bad execs. One is on job and one thankfully retired.

FinalFantasyFanatic2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I didn't like either person, both people damaged their respective brands and produced worse outcomes, but Phil did save the Xbox brand from being retired by Microsoft. Although in hindsight, he should have just let it die, rather than languish in limbo like it is now.

Rainbowcookie1d 16h ago

Yeah but the one that was "bad" didn't even affect sales.

bunt-custardly3d ago

Phil Spencer was also on the team back when 360 was around, alongside Shane Kim, Peter Moore etc. I think the damage that did the most harm was the Don Mattrick "Always Online" console (ahead of its time basically). They handed Sony and Nintendo a free-pass when that was revealed. It went downhill from there. Then the corporate machine went into full swing to try and recover. They have to a degree as a games company for the masses, and less so for the core gamer. Outside USA, the Xbox brand does not sell as well as Japanese based consoles (citation needed).

Cacabunga3d ago

Want a decision maker. The always online and TV plans was a disaster yes, but they caught up by announcing 1st party games that gamers actually kept the hype going.. until this moron took over and introduced the PC day one release.. e all know where that ended..

S2Killinit2d ago

I dont think they were ever a respectable brand, not since the beginning, when their goal was never to be involved and share in the gaming space. I think the OG xbox was an exception because MS as a brand was still getting its foot in and so the people behind that were people of the gaming industry.

FinalFantasyFanatic2d ago

The 360 was the brand in its prime though, everything went downhill towards the end of that generation. Its staple games like Halo, Forza and Gears are what kept the console relevant and afloat for so long.

MaximusPrime_3d ago

Really good video.

I remember the days with RRoD was big news on here, N4G.

Microsoft had it turbulence number of years.

Looking at the success of Sea of Thieves despite being 6 years old, time to release Halo, Forza horizon 4 & 5 on PS5. It'll help their revenue

shinoff21833d ago (Edited 3d ago )

2 of the 4 games they did already sold really well. So it's definitely going down. Idk about halo or forza but I feel those studios they've bought in the last 5 years, their coming

ChasterMies3d ago

I found this video painful to watch. Can someone list them out?

Top 10 for me from are:
1. 2013 reveal presentation
2. Bundling Kinect 2 with Xbox One
3. RRoD or why rushing to market with hardware is always a bad idea.
4. Buying studios only to close them.
5. Ads on the Home Screen
6. Letting Halo die.
7. Letting Geard of War die.
8. Every console name
9. Charging for Xbox Live on Xbox 360 when Sony let PS3 players play online for free.
10. Cancelling release of OG Xbox games after the Xbox 360 launched.

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150°

Microsoft to Add Copilot AI to Video Games

Microsoft recently revealed its plans to incorporate Copilot directly into video games, with Minecraft being the first showcased example.

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xpgained.co.uk
Fishy Fingers7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

F*** AI

"Hey Copilot, what's a good meme to prove I dislike AI".... https://giphy.com/clips/sou...

Einhander19727d ago

Two trillion dollar company that just can't wait to put as many people possible out of work as fast as possible.

It feels like every single thing they do is making gaming worse and destroying the industry.

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darthv727d ago

....you know it takes people to program the AI.... right? It isnt like it is sentient. We haven't reach skynet level of situation or anywhere close to the matrix just yet.

That's next Thursday.

Einhander19726d ago (Edited 6d ago )

It takes a people to program the AI then that AI is used for who knows how many games eliminating countless jobs which only grows as AI is used for more and more game creation functions.

What you're saying is so ridiculously short sighted and truly larking any kind of understanding and foresight.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6d ago
CaptainFaisal7d ago

Why all the hate? Im actually excited about this! Always wanted this kind of immersion, and an AI companion with me all the time helping me out knowing the status of my skills/inventory/progress and giving me tips on the best approach or how to craft something specific is game changing for the industry.

Hate all you want about AI, but this is just the start and I can see the potential already. You wont be complaining in the next 5-10 years about this, but rather complain if a game hasn’t implemented it.

MrDead7d ago

Yes we can't wait for the work of others to be used without the need to pay them so that MS can profit even more from the people they fire.

I_am_Batman7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

There is no chance I'd ever use something like this, especially if it's not part of the core game design, but a layer on top of it. It's way too much handholding. Many games already feel like busy work, because they don't let the player figure things out on their own. Having a real-time interactive guide defeats the purpose of playing the game in the first place in my opinion.

If this were to become the standard like you predict, we'll see more and more video games get away with bad design, because people will just be used to ask for help from the AI companion anyway.

Number1TailzFan7d ago

Well Nintendo don't need this with some of their games these days, with invincible characters, items, easy bosses etc.. they do the hand holding built in

helicoptergirl7d ago

Takes "hand holding" in games to a whole new level.

BlackDoomAx6d ago

Because human nature xD Almost every new technology had these kind of comments.

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70°

Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

Read Full Story >>
windowscentral.com
Psychonaut8511d ago

They’re not working on Call of Duty? Give it time.