The Xbox One is going to be the friend of the indie developer according to new details coming from Redmond. The new console will not only allow indie developers to self-publish their titles, but anyone owning one will technically be able to develop their own games as each and every Xbox One will be a development platform.
Marc Whitten, Xbox corporate VP, issued an official statement confirming the next gen feature. In it he said, “Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We'll have more details on the program and the timeline at Gamescom in August.”
If this turns out to be just as it sounds, it should be a kiss goodbye to expensive development kits and specialised consoles that are capable of running pre-release code, opening development for the console up to anyone who can afford the basic, off the shelf unit.
The addition of self-publishing is an added bonus, meaning that Microsoft is doing away with draconian policies on indie development, so games developers no longer need a publisher to release a title through Xbox Live Arcade.
The dev-kit functionality won't be available right away at launch, however, but will instead arrive at a later date, Whiten told Kotaku.
This feature is obviously going to be of interest to a niche group of potential Xbox One owners with the skills to develop games, but it's a big change, and one that everyone should take note of. Previously, Microsoft hasn't made it easy for indie developers, and although this may be a direct response to Sony's announcements that the PS4 will also allow self-publishing, it's another welcome change to the Xbox's policies, and is hopefully a sign of things to come.