The lights are on
Right after we broke the story of Microsoft's reversal on the Xbox indie self-publishing policy, social media lit up. Developers and fans alike chimed in, off the cuff. Prepared statements are great (and we have a couple ourselves), but the raw reactions are important.
Before we get to that, we want to share two quotes from developers that had worked with Microsoft previously, but have since begun working with Sony for various reasons. Both Klei Entertainment and Just Add Water were presented at Sony's press conference, and the founders of both provided their reactions to the news about Microsoft's latest policy shift.
"That is good news indeed! I suppose the real test is in discoverability of the games on the dashboard." - Jamie Cheng, Founder, Klei Entertainment (Don't Starve)
"This news, whilst awesome is a long way from being detailed. Personally I need to know the full details before we can commit to announcing Oddworld titles for the Xbox family." - Stewart Gilray, Founder, Just Add Water (Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty)
"I think it's a step in the right direction but the devil is in the details. If the revenue share is 50/50, that's absolutely horrible and by far the worst split out there. If the SDK forces you to go through some abstraction layer like XNA to get to the hardware, that's also horrible and would be of no interest to me. Fingers crossed for a 70/30 split and a good SDK...otherwise I'll stick to everything else." - Tommy Refenes, Team Meat co-founder (Super Meat Boy)
Now, onto the responses right after the announcement. What you'll see below is a small collection of immediate responses from people. These aren't reactions to a request for a quote. They are raw responses to exciting news.
Benjamin Cousins, Head of European Game Studios at DeNA
Brian Fargo, Founder, inXile Entertainment
Stephen Toulouse, Former Xbox LIVE Director of Enforcement
Abel Drew, Founder, An Indie Game Company
Grant Egglestone, Developer, Dubit Limited
Borut Pfeifer, Worked With 17-bit Studios on Skulls of the Shogun
We also kept an eye on the community reactions, and there were some insightful (and amusing) responses.
It was definitely a smart move. They should have always had those indie policies there, but making every console a SDK is genius. Now all three major consoles are open to indies, which is amazing.
Now indie developers for Xbox One can have their cake and eat it too!
Xbone 180! Seriously though, no one should be deprived of great indies good job Micro$oft.
I know this is good news, but I think I'm starting to lean more towards PS4. It feels like everything Microsoft has announced is changed within a couple of weeks. I personally was very excited about their original pitch and now they are sounding more and more like PS4, so why not go for the cheaper console at launch.
P.S. This is great news for indie developers regardless of my opinion.
I think this shows a complete inability to listen. If they did listen, they wouldn't have made these giant flubs to begin with. The backtracking just demonstrates how desperate they are for customers - any customers. I wish I could be less cynical, but this company is coming unhinged. Ballmer should go.
2 more policy reversals and its and Xbox 720.
Good job Microsoft! Definitely a turn into the right direction! Still getting a PS4 but might consider this down the road.