UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that it will in fact be allowing independent developers to self-publish. The following is a statement from vice president of Xbox Marc Whitten:
“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.”
Kotaku reports that the ability to turn any Xbox One console into a debug console will not be available at launch.
Original story below:
Microsoft may be looking to reverse yet another policy concerning the Xbox One. This time it concerns a policy that prevents developers from publishing a game on the Xbox One independent of a publisher.
Sources tell Game Informer that Microsoft could retract that policy, allowing for independent developers to publish their games on the Xbox One.
Sony spent a good portion of their E3 2013 press conferences highlighting their partnerships with several independent developers, while Microsoft announced the inability for those same developers to publish on the Xbox One without a certified publisher.
Reportedly, Microsoft is also looking into changing its certification process to make turnarounds much quicker; 14 days to be exact. Under the new certification process, Microsoft will be looking at violations of its terms of service and major bugs, rather than meticulously checking every line of code.
Another rumor currently is that every Xbox One will be able to be converted into a debug console, allowing for any console to be able to play pre-release code. This is a much more streamlined process, compared to the current method of having to have specific debug hardware.
Changes continue to occur surround Microsoft’s Xbox One. It’s anyone’s guess what the final console and its accompanying policies will be when it launches in November. What do you think? Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to share your thoughts.
Source Game Informer