Microsoft’s recent efforts to bring indie games to the Xbox One with the ID@Xbox program has put them in better standing with small developers, but it wasn’t always this way. According to the developer behind the upcoming Hyper Light Drifter in an interview with EDGE, “Microsoft used to be assholes about it.”
“They’ve become a lot friendlier and that’s to do with Chris Charla and his team… He’s a major proponent for smaller developers like us,” Alex Preston of HLD says of the company’s new initiative and leadership.
Better as it may be getting, not all developers are 100% satisfied with Microsoft’s new indie initiative. A hot topic recently has been the launch parity clause for the Xbox One, which forces developers to release their games on Xbox One on the very same day that they release on other platforms. A move that doesn’t allow indie developers to market their goods as timed exclusives to Sony or Steam or other PC retailers.
The list of ID@Xbox program developers has been swelling as of late, and it’s easy to see that at the very least, Microsoft is heading in the right direction.
