Xbox One self publishing to be what people expect?

Today information leaked on MS enabling self publishing for indie games on the Xbox One and that no developer kit would be needed and the console you have at home can be used.

Now initially that sounds great and people on the internet seem to be happy about this, but there is one thing that might make the news less great. On the Xbox 360 we already have the, probably not well known, XBLIG or long Xbox Live Indie Games. What XBLIG allows indies to do on the 360 is self publish games on the console without the need to have a developer kit and if you had a PC with the appropriate software installed and a 360 you where good to go. The catch on the 360 is that this only applies if your game does not exceed a set amount of MB. If your game would exceed the megabyte limit it would not comply with the requirements and either way the file size needs to be reduced or you can make the game an Arcade game.

There is some important information missing on the leaked self publishing feature for the Xbox One. Right now we don`t know if it is only XBLIG for the Xbox One or if it would apply for all indie games. At the moment I would have the feeling that it is the first option and that bigger indie games will still require a publisher to release the game on the Xbox One.

This isn`t only meant as informative piece, regarding XBLIG program on the 360 that isn`t that well known, and that we still don`t know much yet. I would say even if it is like XBLIG it would be still a good thing, just not as good as people might think right now because the current expectation is that this would apply to absolutely every indie studio and indie game.

[zerocrossing]

I actually made a little indie game for the XBLA with my brother, it was a pretty decent service other than the bloody mods.

Anyway, you make some valid points but one other thing to consider is what additional benefits or restriction might Microsoft put in place. The people getting excited need to calm down, it's still way too early to know anything for sure

[OrangePowerz]

There are some very good small indie games on the 360 thanks to XBLIG.

Yes there could be some additional benefits and/or restrictions that MS did not talk about yet that we won`t know until at least GamesCon. Right now many people believe the self publishing would be for all indie games, in part I suspect because not that many people are aware of XBLIG on the 360 and how it works.

[iamnsuperman]

I think the issue is; People think it is more open than I think it is. It makes no sense for Microsoft to have an open platform especially when they have started to make windows more of a closed system. I think this move would benefit indies but I do not think it is as simple as your average joe able to put any old crap on which a lot of people here seem to assume

[_FantasmA_]

Xbox Live went down!!!