First Wave of Developers Sign On to ID@Xbox

At ID@Xbox, we're as happy as anyone that Xbox One has shipped, but we still have our game faces on because there's still a lot for us to do. We've had thousands of developers express interest in ID@Xbox and we continue to make some big strides to lower the barriers for independent developers to self-publish on Xbox One.

[jimbobbeers]

The list is brilliant. Bring on early 2014.

[P0werVR]

I want to see these guys utilize cloud computing for some really interesting gameplay.

[Convas]

I'm just waiting on Team Meat to give us some more details on Mew-Genics. Chris, the director of ID@Xbox, mentioned on Major Nelson's Podcast the other day the he may or may not have seen the game recently, so I suspect Team Meat will be joining ID@Xbox soon as well.

[curtis92]

Hard to buy into their enthusiasm when 6 months ago they couldn't have cared less about indie devs. Now suppose to believe they do? If they really have turned over a new leaf then great but I still feel like this is only because they were forced to do this. Maybe that's cynical to think but I just see them as disingenous.

[thrust]

Do you have an xbox one?

[curtis92]

... Do I need an xbox one to have an opinion about the company? I don't have a hummer either but I think they're dumb.

[thrust]

Just can not see why you are so bothered if that is the case :/

[Software_Lover]

They did care about Indie devs. Main reason every xbox one is a dev unit. They just had to constantly answer questions about DRM and other things. Even now, when good news pops up every now and then we get the same comments over taking the comment section.

I applaud Sony's PR approach to Indies and capitalizing on every Microsoft mistake, but lets not act as if Indies are not and were not on Microsoft's mind.

[curtis92]

Did MS not drastically change their stance on indies after E3? Were they not still going to require a publisher for all games? You act like they just didn't talk about it. They made it a point to say their focus was on AAA games.

"Microsoft had repeatedly stated that independent game developers wouldn’t be welcome on Xbox One unless they had a publisher; in other words, they couldn’t self-publish."

Source: http://www.extremetech.com/...

And now all of the sudden indie games are near and dear to them? Again, if they truly changed then good for them. But because of how microsoft is, always trying to capitalize on the here and now and not truly focusing on one direction, I don't buy their enthusiasm.

[MiloGarret]

You seem very upset curtis.

[ThanatosDMC]

He probably supports indie titles. They make the weirdest/best games after all.

[Grown Folks Talk]

So true curtis. They act as if they had an entire section dedicated to indies on the 360 or something.

[Sm00thNinja]

I love this comment! ^^^ but I digress Microsoft's approach to indies may have been as open as Sony's in the past but great strides are being made to rectify that. So excited about the future of Xbox One!

[gamer2013]

I see what you did there. ;)

[Naga]

You aren't very familiar with Microsoft's history of supporting indies, are you?

Are you familiar with what they did with the Xbox 360, or cognizant of the fact that they made every single Xbox One a serve as a dev kit for indies (thus decreasing cost and easing access)? I feel like if you had looked at their track record, and the present facts - as opposed to buying into the anti-indie narrative being advanced by certain corners of the community - then you wouldn't be quite so skeptical.

The fact of the matter is that 6 months ago, the Xbox One was not ready for indies. It wasn't a posture of Microsoft against indies - the tools simply weren't ready or available for them to get working due to the hardware and software not being finalized. I'd say that's why Microsoft is late to the party, but that wouldn't be accurate. They've been partying hard with the indie developers for years now.

[darthv72]

"And now all of the sudden indie games are near and dear to them?"

It would seem you are slightly confused in the MS/Indie situation. MS made indie development the least pricey when it came to creating games on the 360.

They made the dedicated indie section on the marketplace for games made. When indies were complaining about the exposure (placement of the games section), Ms moved it to be more proactive in promoting the section and the games.

The whole idea of trying to get indies to partner up with a publisher was for increased exposure and quality control. No doubt you are familiar with wiiware and the number of atrocious titles on that service. Well....it was happening with the indie marketplace as well.

Ms was trying to get these games into the system but wanted the devs to use an established pub to help with making sure the quality titles were getting the release and thus the exposure.

While self publishing has its rewards.....it also has its caveats. such as self publishing does not guarantee your game will sell if it is crap or if its good. all self publishing really gives is the dev the $$ for selling the game instead of a cut of the proceeds with a portion going to the pub.

Partnering with a pub is more like assurance that the game is of a particular quality that would garner more recognition. But with so many thinking it was a negative...MS had to change their position and just let it flow like it was doing on the 360.

Be that good or bad will be up to the gamers to decide. Hopefully i will expect these indie devs to have some pride in their work and release quality product to earn their rightful place on the market. But alas...we will likely still get the shovelware from time to time.

[Volkama]

You're wrong. Microsoft are too big, they aren't even capable of reacting to Sony's indie policy as quickly as this. This stuff was always planned, it just wasn't a focal point for the introduction of the console.

Frankly this time last year I would never have guessed indie games would become a point of heated discussion or interest, that came out of nowhere. And I still don't really get why. People round here need to browse the 360 indie store, get some perspective on what they're arguing about.

[Convas]

I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, I can't help but disagree.

A couple of months ago, just after the Xbox One reveal, there was a pastebin entry that described a very divided Xbox division. There were different factions inside Redmond that wanted different things for the console.

Unfortunately, the executives, the "suits" like Don Mattrick, won out and we got the original vision of the Xbone in May. You can see some of their design-by-committee decisions still on the Xbox One today (Kinect-based UI navigation, lack of HDD management, party chat shenanigans, weaker GPU specs, Windows 8 lite UI [Ballmer's One Microsoft Vision no doubt]).

Now, don't you find it odd, that as soon as MS saw just how badly the web had taken to the XB1 reveal, that they gave the reins over to Spencer, who delivered on the promise of games, games, games @ E3 2013?

Isn't it odd to you that no sooner had the DRM been announced to be reversed, had the door JUST closed behind Mattrick that suddenly:

1) Mandatory Kinect was scrapped
2) Headset was announced to be included in every Xbox
3) ID@Xbox announced

These decisions didn't just materialize out of thin air. There were folks @ MS who were fighting for this stuff. When Mattrick's vision was sacked by gaming press at large, they got their grand "WE TOLD YOU FREAKING SO" moment and then everybody started scrambling to turn things around.

Just some things to think about. Indies on Xbox One program didn't just appear overnight. It was in the works, they just needed green lights from the right people. Don Mattrick and his committee were not the right people.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Convas I remember reading about that somewhere. Apparently there was a power struggle within the MS. MS had way too many divisions working on X1. One person wanted this another wanted that.

Don Mattrick did have the final say before the reveal but lets rewind for a minute to exactly what happened prior to the announcement.

MS put out a timer in January teasing a huge reveal for E3 2013. And many speculated the "Xbox 720" reveal. Assuring the fans and gamers that MS was prepped and ready for E3

A month later In Feb Sony just announced the PS4 and got fantastic buzz from gamers, journalist's, tech enthusiast and gaming outlets all across the net.

Now with Sony being R* after the shocking PS4 reveal (earlier than expected) Meanwhile left MS more shocked and thrown off guard.

Now Xbox fans and other gamers were craving for a MS reveal for awhile. But MS internally was having a hard time than we could speculate. Leakes and leaks kept seeping through none stop.

The Adam Orth controversy was due to the tension of the rumor that MS's console was always online. At this point the internal MS team could not do anything to control the rumors that were going around. If they confirmed (or denied) the rumors the console would be unveiled forcefully.

Now at the same time this was going on what @Convas said there was power struggle internally and MS also had to worry about a reveal of the console as well. Which made things worse imo. One half said we should reveal it as a TV and entertainemt console. Or a Games console. Hence the possible delay of the reveal

Don Mattrick got the last word. And ultimately nearly tarnished everything that made the Xbox brand successful.

So I believe Jan through May it was developmental hell for MS internals and really bad environment. And it didn't stop there with the constant PR backflips Don Mattrick and others were stating.

At the end of the day gamers like us aren't a complicated market. We just want the games, that's what we're here for.

[P0werVR]

Actually, they NEVER stated they wouldn't have anything, it was just a lot of bad mouthing in the game media that Microsoft have nothing for indies in response to Sony's showing at E3. Very sad that people seen that as fact.

If anything they seemed more on the down low about it, because they had better things to emphasize more on (that backfired). Either way, it's Microsoft. They introduced indie gaming in all it's glory today, why wouldn't they have ID@Xbox already developed for. It's obvious how it's already hardware implemented into the console itself as a dev kit in every Xbox One. You cannot do that last minute. So Microsoft had this feature long ago and were ALWAYS developer friendly.

Just because Sony bought a lot of indie IPs and claim they are "more" indie friendly is what fanboys like you need to question than believe that Microsoft never were for indie developers when that is far from the truth.

[Bigpappy]

Who had a whole section of their market place jus dedicated to indie for close to 8 years? M$ has been supporting indies for years, but has always tried to minimize the junk ad support the best stuff. This is why I am fine with most o them moving over to PS4. Most of what thy produce is shovelware. Sometimes you find a diamond in the ruff, but not often.

People acting like M$ hates indies are either misinformed or stupid. I hope you are just misinformed.

M$ didn't change on thing about their indie policy since E3. The just hadn't announced a public policy.

[christocolus]

Well said bro.. well said

[XboxFun]

Don't worry Bigpappy, he's a sony drone. He was bred on this site to think that everything MS does is bad and everything Sony does is not only first but totally awesome.

He couldn't have known that 360 had a dedicated indie channel supported by the indie community that is still going on to this day. That MS supported that community with the lowest entry fee for any console and gave them easy to use tools to make whatever they wanted. They even gave them their own type of promotions which was like 360's Summer of Arcade.

It's because the more vocal posters on this site parrot each other with the same nonsense he can't help but think his statement is true.

[Gabenbrah]

Xbox has always had amazing Indie titles to play, so many amazing Indie titles for the Xbox 360, I'm confident we'll see some great tiles again on the Xbox One

[mcstorm]

I agree it did and I missed a lot of them on the 360 but given the new gen has started im going to start taking note of the indie games on the Wiiu and xbox one. I will look at the ones on the ps4 too when I pick one up next year. Cant wait until the new gen gets into full swing as I think its going to be a good one.

[IcicleTrepan]

also read elsewhere divekick is coming to XB1 at some point.

[Ron_Danger]

So now we're back to loving indie devs again?? The flip flopping stance that fanboys (MS and Sony) take in indie devs is getting rediculous.

6 months ago: Sony - we<3indie devs... Xbox fanboys- all Sony has is indie games lol

2 months ago: Microsoft - every XBox One is a dev kit... MS fanboys - everyone can be an indie dev!! Indie devs are awesome!! Sony fanboys - XBox marketplace is just gonna end up like the iPhone App Store and just be a cluttered mess... Screw indie devs

Half a month ago: PS4 launch - indie game Resogun achieves some of the highest scores of any launch game... Sony fanboys- look how amazing indie games look on next gen!! MS fanboys- Ha!! Look at our AAA launch line up! Look at how amazing it is compaired to your pathetic [highly rated] indie games!! Who needs indie games with our AAA launch titles?!

Today: MIcrosoft- thousands of indie devs are signing up to make games... MS fanboys- oh boy!! Look at all of the amazing indie games coming out for XBox!! Long live indie games!!!

Can we all just settle down and realize that the videogame ecosystem needs indie devs just as much as it needs AAA titles in order to remain healthy?

[Blaze929]

at the time of writing, not one comment here has said anything about "we love indie devs" or even loving indie games. No one has said anything that you are for osme reason crying about.

Let's not pretend, majority of gamers care just as much as they did yesterday, last week, last month, last year: very little. There's no flip flop here. The view on indie games is still the same.

There are always a few gems but out of the 3,000+ indie games on xbox 360 right now how many of them are actually good? Yeah, i thought so.

Any xbox gamer, especially xbox live members, know about indie games coming from Xbox 360. And with that experience, there's no close excitement like you sony fans exhibit.

[Ron_Danger]

Thanks for quoting me and going on a rant when I was talking in general terms. It really shows your reading comprehension skills.

You do realize (and I'll put this as simple to understand as possible) that almost all last gen and up until today, that fanboys on both sides have been changing their stance on indie games. I'm not pointing out any specific users, I'm trying to point out the flawed logic of blind, closed minded fanboys in general.

[rainslacker]

At least you call out fan boys on both sides, although many MS proponents did say how Sony's policies would lead to and iOS/Google App type crap as well.:)

Indie games are always good to have available. There are good ones and bad ones.

In all this, it's not good to take the opinions of some and apply them to the whole. Most of the arguments on hypocrisy tend to be like that.

Also I'd like to add, Resogun has beaten out any other next gen game for fun factor alone. Just wish it were longer, but hey, it was free with PS+ so can't complain too much. I may actually get DLC for it though since it was free. F2P model may work well for it in fact.

[XboxFun]

You may be talking in general terms but you are generally wrong.

MS fanboys always loved indies because the 360 had a dedicated channel specifically for indie games. Funny how almost all sony fanboys seem to forget that especially when it comes time to do an exclusive head count, then Sony fanboys are the first to say those games don't count.

Indies all of a sudden became important on this site when Sony started to pad their launch line up with them, most of them being 3 to 4 year old ports of PC games.

Hell, one of the first games 360 fans embraced was Geometry Wars.

[Ron_Danger]

So we have Blaze and XBox Fun both responding to me telling me I'm wrong, then both contradict each other proving me right...

Thanks guys... I love when fanboys just rant without thinking.

[gamer2013]

MS have always supported indies and Xbox supporters have always defended it against Sony fanboys who claimed that indie games don't count. Now that Sony's launch lineup is littered with indie games Sony fanboys flip the script as usual. Hypocrites.