Microsoft’s attempt to make it right with indie developers is still very much a work in progress. Tempering expectations of waves of indie titles arriving in November when the Xbox One launches, Microsoft’s Phil Harrison recently revealed to Games Industry that Xbox One owners should probably start to see indie games coming out of the ID@Xbox program in 2014.
Harrison said in the interview, “I don’t think it’s realistic to see a developer program and build a game and get it into the market on November 22nd. It’s reasonable to expect in early 2014 we’ll start seeing the first games come through.”
Now this doesn’t mean that no indie or smaller games will arrive on the Xbox One at or near launch. The company has already confirmed that titles like Lococycle, Crimson Dragon, and others, are due to arrive on the system to fill any voids that the AAA market leaves. With the ID@Xbox initiative relatively new, we’ll likely start seeing developers take advantage of this self-publishing program as the console rolls out.
