Markus ‘Notch’ Persson is liking what he’s hearing out of Microsoft and the Xbox One. The developer best known for Minecraft, thinks that Microsoft’s recently announced policies concerning indie developers and self-publishing “a wonderful idea”.
In a move that allows all Xbox One units to be used as development kits, Microsoft vaguely outlined their policies for self-publishing on the new console earlier this week.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea to have the actual box be the dev kits,” Notch told Edge. “This make it easier for both the developer and for Microsoft, and presumably they could make it a lot cheaper since they’d only sell unlock codes. I realize there are other factors at play here, though, like a preceived need to make sure only legitimate developers get access to it, so a monetary barrier might still be in place.”
Reception of Microsoft’s policies have been mixed since the reveal. Some developers don’t see eye to eye with Persson, like Brian Provinciano of Retro City Rampage fame. He believes that while its an overall positive policy shift, he’s still put off by his former dealings with Microsoft, and isn’t convinced that the policies are as positive as they are being spun to be.
Notch probably hasn’t gone through some of the issues that developers like Provinciano have. His game, Minecraft, has sold millions and millions of copies on the platform with Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition being one of the top selling games of 2012 and 2013 on the Xbox 360. An Xbox One version of Minecraft is being developed by 4J Studios and is due to release on the next-gen platform.
