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[Gxgear]

This was a recent change, All indie games released since quite a while back now have to go through greenlight.

How recent? Even among the latest ones it doesn't seem to apply for all of them. Then there's the indies that's published through major publishers on other platforms, but are self-publishing on Steam.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Greenlight is a "hostile" process.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

Let me play devil's advocate here....

I think the fact that Microsoft has a degree of quality control is great. Do we really need Xbox Live to transform into another iOS app store with tons and tons of shovelware?

You miss the point, self-publishing doesn't mean anyone can upload crap to PSN/XBL, developers still have to jump through hoops but it means they don't have to give all their profits away to an unnecessary intermediary.

 

[szaromir]

Why?

Before greenlight somebody at Valve decided yay or nay without any kind of explanation.

Now, there are answers. Public interest beeing the most important.

Look at Unepic for example.

Greenlight is a terrible system because it forces the dev to pandering to the voters, not making a great and unique game. It also doesn't help that its user interface is absolutely atrocious.

Microsoft has always been very picky about the indie games they let on XBLA, and because of this they've discovered some fantastic games that have been great successes and sold much better than anything i've been able to find about PSN game numbers (not much data available that i've been able to see).

I wish they were less selective in some ways, i'd have loved the Oddworld games and others on XBLA etc for example, I think if they're not prepared to be as open as PSN is, they should at least try to be less restrictive.

Content promotion and discoverability are separate issues from the topic at hand, the problem is that they make the process of releasing a game a huge pain in the ass for small developers which is not good at all. They make many of them sour in the process and unwilling to develop for the platform ever again, which is terrible for everybody involved.

 

[M3d10n]

Let me play devil's advocate here....

I think the fact that Microsoft has a degree of quality control is great. Do we really need Xbox Live to transform into another iOS app store with tons and tons of shovelware?

Ever heard of PSN or eShop? $2K+ dev kits and the need to sign contracts are enough of a barrier to stop fart apps and copyright infringement jump clones.

 

[Poetic.Injustice]

How recent? Even among the latest ones it doesn't seem to apply for all of them. Then there's the indies that's published through major publishers on other platforms, but are self-publishing on Steam.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Greenlight is a "hostile" process.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=499666

 

[Joni]

This was a recent change, All indie games released since quite a while back now have to go through greenlight.

All indie games by people who haven't released a Steam game before.

 

[amardilo]

Microsoft really need to allow self publishing for those that can afford to make a game by themselves.

They can still publish indy games and get exclusives or timed exclusives by going to developers who need money, QA, marketing and other services to make the game.

 

[M3d10n]

How recent? Even among the latest ones it doesn't seem to apply for all of them. Then there's the indies that's published through major publishers on other platforms, but are self-publishing on Steam.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Greenlight is a "hostile" process.

Your game needs to get an unspecified amount of votes from a biased group of people that is not an accurate representative of the Steam userbase (only the ones that care enough to visit the Greenlight section) in order to get your game approved.

Also, you only get access to the Steam SDK *after* you have been approved, so your game still needs additional work to be made Steam-compatible after being approved. Combined with the whole voting thing, it completely destroys any kind of release schedule a more professional company might have, making Steam unsuitable for a premiere release.

Finally, the Greenlight page allows games at any stage of development to be submitted. There are a few complete vaporware there which are nothing more than promises and actual games need to fight against those too.

 

[szaromir]

Ever heard of PSN or eShop? $2K+ dev kits and the need to sign contracts are enough of a barrier to stop fart apps and copyright infringement jump clones.

Your game needs to get an unspecified amount of votes from a biased group of people that is not an accurate representative of the Steam userbase (only the ones that care enough to visit the Greenlight section) in order to get your game approved.

Also, you only get access to the Steam SDK *after* you have been approved, so your game still needs additional work to be made Steam-compatible after being approved. Combined with the whole voting thing, it completely destroys any kind of release schedule a more professional company might have, making Steam unsuitable for a premiere release.

Finally, the Greenlight page allows games at any stage of development to be submitted. There are a few complete vaporware there which are nothing more than promises and actual games need to fight against those too.

Excellent posts.

 

[watership]

Notch knows something.

Probably something to going to be announced at Build later this month.

 

[RobotRocker]

It does seem that Microsoft wants some sort of quality control because they want games to be able to ship and release in decent timeframe, have a set schedule and basically hung up a sign saying "No Time-Wasters, please" on the gateway to their platform.

Like Cappy have always seemed to be on time, have a professional reputation and produce great games, so it's an obvious choice to pick them up. I'd honestly think this gen that Microsoft are basically just sick of dealing with situations where games they promote get delayed because the indie studio that they are publishing simply cannot be ready in time and at least getting a publisher is a boot up the ass to deliver on time and on budget, but also has the drawback of not being a direct source of profit and publishers being publishers. Maybe there could be a nicer way to do it like Microsoft setting up a pub fund to pick out promising projects that do have themselves organised and together and letting them on the platform but I think Microsoft were somewhat burned enough last gen with the XBLA experience to say "Not everyone's getting in the club" while Sony and Nintendo are going in opposite directions. Not a particularly great way but an understandable way, but then we haven't seen the impact of Sony and Nintendo's approaches yet and we have nothing really to compare it to yet.

 

[Gxgear]

Your game needs to get an unspecified amount of votes from a biased group of people that is not an accurate representative of the Steam userbase (only the ones that care enough to visit the Greenlight section) in order to get your game approved.

Also, you only get access to the Steam SDK *after* you have been approved, so your game still needs additional work to be made Steam-compatible after being approved. Combined with the whole voting thing, it completely destroys any kind of release schedule a more professional company might have, making Steam unsuitable for a premiere release.

Finally, the Greenlight page allows games at any stage of development to be submitted. There are a few complete vaporware there which are nothing more than promises and actual games need to fight against those too.

Garnering interest, compatibility, screening...seem like general publishing issues to be honest.

 

[immortal-joe]

Microsoft will fold here, no question. Too much bad press will build up over this as the generation goes by. I'd count on it happening sooner rather than later (the policy change that is)

 

[Respawn]

Let me play devil's advocate here....

I think the fact that Microsoft has a degree of quality control is great. Do we really need Xbox Live to transform into another iOS app store with tons and tons of shovelware?

It seems you didnt give thought to the subject at hand.

 

[RedSwirl]

I think Sony and Nintendo can still institute some level of quality control even if developers are self-publishing. The only difference is that they're dealing directly with the developers who submit the games instead of publishers. Games can still get rejected from PSN and eShop.

Another messed-up thing is how Xbox One will still apparently charge for patches as well as limit them. This could result in a lot of games (not just indie games but retail games too) getting patched last on Xbox, or not at all. This was at the center of Valve's problems with Xbox Live. It's partly why they stopped patching the 360 version of Team Fortress 2 after the first couple updates, and why they charted for Left 4 Dead DLC on 360 while releasing it for free on Steam.

 

[R1CHO]

Greenlight is a terrible system because it forces the dev to pandering to the voters, not making a great and unique game.

Of course because the voters, which are the buyers don't forget that, don't want great and unique games.

You will see games passing greenlight just because the won at the popularity contest, yes. But, you also see a shit ton of potentially good games being approved.

Again, i am not saying that is the best system ever, but it's obviously better than the old system. Valve can still make games appear on Steam if the decide they are great... but now there is another option.

 

[Noogy]

Funny, I never felt bullied into signing a contract. I suppose that wouldn't make a very interesting thread title.

 

[Windu]

I'm thinking at build (26th) they will announce a way to self publish on the shared partition of xbox one which uses winRT which is used by windows 8 and windows phone.

 

[ChosenPredator]

Funny, I never felt bullied into signing a contract. I suppose that wouldn't make a very interesting thread title.

ive noticed you've always been positive about xbox but when these things come out almost everyone on gaf assumes they treat everyone like shit, smh.

 

[commedieu]

Funny, I never felt bullied into signing a con

it's 5@m, read it wrong

 

[Noogy]

ive noticed you've always been positive about xbox but when these things come out everyone on gaf awesomes they treat everyone like shit, smh.

It's weird, because I get a bit defensive since I actually know and work with great people at Microsoft. It's not necessarily my place to defend them, and I think they've done a terrible job with the next console reveal, but I get a little tired with all this 'Microsoft clearly hates indies' nonsense.

Some developers do not like Microsoft. Some do. Same thing goes for Sony, Nintendo, and Valve.

 

[injurai]

Pretty self explanatory as to why so many indies have been flocking to the PS4 then ...

see, even with the reversal MS awful policies are omnipresent.

 

[Bailers]

I hope they address this at their BUILD developer conference next week.

I have a feeling they might be busy talking about other things than their policy on self published games.

 

[Windu]

I have a feeling they might be busy talking about other things than their policy on self published games.

build is a developer event, if there is a place they would announce this it would be there.

 

[test_account]

Regarding being timed exclusive, does this goes for all XBLA games? Arent some of them released on the same day? What about Double Dragon Neon and Simpsons: The Arcade Game just to take two examples.

 

[QaaQer]

It's weird, because I get a bit defensive since I actually know and work with great people at Microsoft. It's not necessarily my place to defend them, and I think they've done a terrible job with the next console reveal, but I get a little tired with all this 'Microsoft clearly hates indies' nonsense.

Some developers do not like Microsoft. Some do. Same thing goes for Sony, Nintendo, and Valve.

And we get that.

But the fact remains MS forcing devs into exclusive publishing deals is shit for devs and for anyone not owning win8/xbone/360 who wants to play stuff like FEZ or Minecraft. They are predatory when compared with Steam, iOS, and PSN. That doesn't mean individual MS employees can't be great people. It just means MS corporate culture is vicious.

 

[Rlan]

The actual issue with Xbox isn't the actual policies that they deal with, but the people in charge.

Right now Biz Dev relations is Adam Boyes on PS4, and he's loving it right now with Indies.

Phil Spencer's trying over at Xbox, but I'm not sure how much he is out there doing the same sort of thing.

David Edery has spoken on it before I think, who used to be the XBLA guy at its inception. The issue has been that the guy in head of XBLA dev relations had changed every 6 months for SEVERAL years and every new guy had a different idea on what they were going to publish on the platform, which caused major headaches.

One game for example was Cletus Clay, an XBLA game that was coming that was all about Clay stuff:

With one manager they were approved, and got to work, but then 6 months later a new guy was in charge, didn't see it "fit within the Microsoft portfolio", and then were no longer going to push it.

I mean PSN does the same thing, really, but they're a hell of a lot nicer about it. Not any game can get onto PSN or PS4N, you've still got to pitch the idea to them (or more likely, Sony are actively going after the proven concepts)

I imagine it was the same with Bastion -- a game that was going XBLA, but at some point MS dropped it and they had to go with WB to publish it, and then ends up winning a bunch of GOTY awards, and now their next game is on PSN. Microsoft flubbed it.

 

[szaromir]

Of course because the voters, which are the buyers don't forget that, don't want great and unique games.

You will see games passing greenlight just because the won at the popularity contest, yes. But, you also see a shit ton of potentially good games being approved.

Again, i am not saying that is the best system ever, but it's obviously better than the old system. Valve can still make games appear on Steam if the decide they are great... but now there is another option.

M3d10n already covered it why Greenlight is not good for indie devs - it's extremely difficult to build a business plan aroung Greenlight, not knowing if and when your game is going to go through that system and finally be released on Steam. There are platforms with much more straightforward and simpler approval process. It's a shame really.

It's weird, because I get a bit defensive since I actually know and work with great people at Microsoft. It's not necessarily my place to defend them, and I think they've done a terrible job with the next console reveal, but I get a little tired with all this 'Microsoft clearly hates indies' nonsense.

Some developers do not like Microsoft. Some do. Same thing goes for Sony, Nintendo, and Valve.

It's always amusing to see how much more great stuff from Microsoft's troubled digital distribution system than from Sony's and Nintendo's greener pastures. However, it would be nice if they allowed self-publishing, as well as free and instant patching and content updating.

 

[Noogy]

And we get that.

But the fact remains MS forcing devs into exclusive publishing deals is shit for devs and for anyone not owning win8/xbone/360 who wants to play stuff like FEZ or Minecraft. They are predatory when compared with Steam, iOS, and PSN. That doesn't mean individual MS employees can't be great people. It just means MS corporate culture is vicious.

Nobody is being forced to sign anything. If a developer signs a document that they don't agree with, well, I can't really sympathize. It's business, and if you don't agree with the terms, you need to walk away. A lot of indies are doing just that, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll find greener pastures. Most indies that I know either on iOS or Greenlight are very, VERY unhappy. It's too early to tell with Sony right now.

Now, being screwed out of a promised promotion or having a crap release date are far less acceptable, and those developers have every right to vent. But there are still massive pros to working with Microsoft, and they usually outweigh the cons.

All that said, it's good that this stuff is being surfaced. It's good for indies, it's good for gamers. But recently it seems the discussion has been getting out of hand.

 

[QaaQer]

Nobody is being forced to sign anything. If a developer signs a document that they don't agree with, well, I can't really sympathize. It's business, and if you don't agree with the terms, you need to walk away.

MS is a massive company with near unlimited resources and a battalion of experienced lawyers. Indie devs aren't in the same league when it comes to being able to craft an acceptable contract. It isn't a fair fight so I can totally sympathize with them.

And I'm guessing anyone who has dealt with the legal arm of any giant corporation would feel the same way.

A lot of indies are doing just that, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll find greener pastures. Most indies that I know either on iOS or Greenlight are very, VERY unhappy. It's too early to tell with Sony right now.

Thing is, it is really easy to be on iOS AND Greenlight AND PSN because, afaik, they aren't enforcing exclusivity and the need to have a publisher.

Now, being screwed out of a promised promotion or having a crap release date are far less acceptable, and those developers have every right to vent.

I thought you said: "Nobody is being forced to sign anything. If a developer signs a document that they don't agree with, well, I can't really sympathize."

But there are still massive pros to working with Microsoft, and they usually outweigh the cons.

All that said, it's good that this stuff is being surfaced. It's good for indies, it's good for gamers. But recently it seems the discussion has been getting out of hand.

only on gaf. Nobody else cares.

 

[szaromir]

Thing is, it is really easy to be on iOS AND Greenlight AND PSN because, afaik, they aren't enforcing exclusivity and the need to have a publisher.

It's hard to earn any money by being on Greenlight though.

 

[Joni]

It does seem that Microsoft wants some sort of quality control because they want games to be able to ship and release in decent timeframe, have a set schedule and basically hung up a sign saying "No Time-Wasters, please" on the gateway to their platform.

What would be their problem with studio's spending years on their games? They aren't funding anything.

Regarding being timed exclusive, does this goes for all XBLA games? Arent some of them released on the same day? What about Double Dragon Neon and Simpsons: The Arcade Game just to take two examples.

No, those are published by third-party publishers. Microsoft only imposes that with games they themselves publish.

 

[McSpidey]

The fact this topic keeps coming up is a good sign for gaming, because it just means there are more and more dev studios appearing and each will bring with them their own individual unique experience, perspective and games, but if the issue isn't resolved they wont be able to stick around for long.

Publishing anything has never been easier. This is bitter-sweet as it has helped nurture a colossal, global rise in indie studios but also puts increased pressure on virtual front-shelf-space. To resolve this pressure either the number of popular virtual store-fronts need to increase or the number of games being allowed on any given platform needs to decrease.

This is why we'e still seeing gates like Steam Greenlight and exclusion systems like this no self publishing on Xbox One. It's also why we're seeing more complaint stories like this. For indies one closed gate can end them entirely, these are life or death blockades so expect them to speak their minds when upset.

Addressing this issue on a closed platform is especially hard and none of the attempted options really work. It's just too easy to create a ghetto. See Ouya's Sandbox, iOS Store and XBLIG for the most obvious examples of an online gaming ghetto. Even the PC still only has one dominant store so it hasn't escaped it either.

I hope technology and gamers step up here to help games find their audience. I already see indie game budgets creeping and a new middle-class developers emerging. We still need a lot more to get there though.

 

[shola]

how about you lot wait for more info.

 

[jim2011]

There's a good chance they're going to allow self publishing. They aren't going to go backwards from Xbox live indie games on 360 to no platform at all for anything not published by a major publisher.

They just haven't announced their xb1 plans yet. It's not just about indie games either, they haven't announced their app strategy as well. The big rumor is that xb1 can run Windows RT apps (and consequently games).

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

PSN and Steam seems to be doing fine.

As an indie dev Steam greenlight is a horrible process. You mean Sony and Nintendo, because those are much better right now.

How recent? Even among the latest ones it doesn't seem to apply for all of them. Then there's the indies that's published through major publishers on other platforms, but are self-publishing on Steam.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Greenlight is a "hostile" process.

Welp, this settles it, you are only looking it upfront. Seeing the backstage explains how the whole process is garbage.
BTW, what is worse of all, there's no "rules" really to enter steam right now, its strange and they don't want to explain really how the whole thing works. I dont know if I can even talk of the stats page I see.

 

[belvedere]

Surely Microsoft has taken notice. Dragging themselves out of this whole they've dug with indies will take years though.

 

[Newblade]

Your game needs to get an unspecified amount of votes from a biased group of people that is not an accurate representative of the Steam userbase (only the ones that care enough to visit the Greenlight section) in order to get your game approved.

Also, you only get access to the Steam SDK *after* you have been approved, so your game still needs additional work to be made Steam-compatible after being approved. Combined with the whole voting thing, it completely destroys any kind of release schedule a more professional company might have, making Steam unsuitable for a premiere release.

Finally, the Greenlight page allows games at any stage of development to be submitted. There are a few complete vaporware there which are nothing more than promises and actual games need to fight against those too.

They are opening up the Steam SDK to everyone.

There's a separate tab for games at a concept stage.

 

[edotlee]

Posted about this in another thread but it's more appropriate here. Peter Molyneux talks about MS's policies towards indies.

Speaking with GI.biz at E3, Molyneux lamented Microsoft’s approach to indies during the show last week, and how the company isn’t using its formats to harness small studios effectively.

“This drives me crazy,” he began. “You think of Microsoft. They’ve got two amazing platforms. They’ve got Windows and Xbox, and you would think there would be an ecosystem that encompasses both of those platforms in a truly encouraging way. And I think it’s a wasted opportunity.

“That being said, I think when you’re doing something like manufacturing a console there are so many things you’ve got to be careful of in terms of security and secrecy, which is very scary coming into a conference like this. It’s all about pulling back the curtain, and if you tell indie developers [in advance] there are risks of leaks.

“So I kind of understand it, but it doesn’t seem right, that they have an ecosystem that doesn’t really encourage small development. They’ve had their try at it, but it doesn’t seem like it’s part of their DNA.”

Microsoft’s ecosystem doesn’t encourage small development, says Molyneux

 

[kaching]

That doesn't say anything except that they're still officially operating like X360 because we're still in current gen and they were not ready to talk all things next-gen. There's nothing there that definitively states that will remain as it is now for next-gen.

Next gen is 5 months away - even indie devs would need to be moving by now if they wanted to get their games out on XBO during the launch window, so for them the X360 policy is very legitimately the XBO policy.

 

[bluecapsule]

Let me play devil's advocate here....

I think the fact that Microsoft has a degree of quality control is great. Do we really need Xbox Live to transform into another iOS app store with tons and tons of shovelware?

Content curation has nothing to do with self-publishing. Steam and Sony curate their stores.

 

[Ishmae1]

I don't doubt that MS have some incredibly backward thinking requirements, but his games lack of success on other platforms is probably more to do with the fact that it's simply not very good.

And, win.

Regardless of the policies MS has, there's this "recipe for clicks" going on these days with journos finding devs that made OK games and obviously didn't see a return on them loudly complaining when their game doesn't make them an overnight success.

 

[Dracarys]

I think the cost of a ps4 dev kit is quality control enough for the psn market place.

How much they cost for a license? 10k or so?

Obviously, if your sure about your game and you got a bunch of talented people you can make that money back within a day or 2.

 

[Ghost]

Well I guess the problem with Sonys approach is that they are going to have to sift through A LOT of applications, it's hard to see how that could be a quick process for anyone but already established indies who can just make a phone call or two.

The slot model solves that problem by dividing the work among every publisher on the system but obviously the revenue sharing for doing effectively nothing is a bit of a shame. Having said that if Indie games really are that important this gen then presumably publishers will be throwing better deals around and basically competing on behalf of MS so they can take their cut on XBL.


What I'd like (ultimately) both parties do is give (at least sell) tools to who ever wants them, then have a Greenlight like service to decide whether or not you get published, and keep the publisher slot system so games that need to be funded that way can do so.

 

[szaromir]

Welp, this settles it, you are only looking it upfront. Seeing the backstage explains how the whole process is garbage.

I think anyone who voted even once on Greenlight realizes that the entire procedure is terrible.

Surely Microsoft has taken notice. Dragging themselves out of this whole they've dug with indies will take years though.

No, it won't take years. The architecture is very close to PC ans PS4, I'm sure devs would have no difficulties porting their games to Xbone. Unless you think there are that many devs llike Blow who have a deep grudge against MS.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

Let me play devil's advocate here....

I think the fact that Microsoft has a degree of quality control is great. Do we really need Xbox Live to transform into another iOS app store with tons and tons of shovelware?

What does having a publisher actually have to do with quality? You already have shovelware galore on the retail disc side and those games aren't self-published, games like xmen destiny wouldn't be on the xbox360 if there's this so-called quality control. Garbage is garbage, just because Activision or EA or MS is publishing it doesn't mean it's not garbage.

 

[Rhindle]

What does having a publisher actually have to do with quality? You already have shovelware galore on the retail disc side and those games aren't self-published, games like xmen destiny wouldn't be on the xbox360 if there's this so-called quality control. Garbage is garbage, just because Activision or EA or MS is publishing it doesn't mean it's not garbage.

There are a limited number of "slots" on XBL. MS releases only one game per week or at most two on XBL. The question is how you filter out the best games to fill those slots.

Microsoft's current solution is to effectively outsource that task to publishers. Each publisher gets a defined number of slots, which is a function of the number of retail games they release. They expect publishers to maximize the value of the slots by finding the best games and overseeing the development, QA etc. That's their "filter".

Sony's filter is an internal Sony approval process for all releases. But it's the same goal, they want to maintain a level of quality and consistency in their marketplace.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Not a particularly great way but an understandable way, but then we haven't seen the impact of Sony and Nintendo's approaches yet and we have nothing really to compare it to yet.

You can keep waiting if you want, but here's the results so far:


Indie games released or announced for Wii U
8 Bit Boy (Awesomeblade Software)
A World of Keflings (Ninjabee)
Aban Hawkins and the 1001 Spikes (Nicalis)
Abyss (EnjoyUp Games)
Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (ScrewAttack Games)
Anima: Gates of Memories (Anima Project Studio)
A.N.N.E (Gamesbymo)
Another Castle (Uncade)
Armillo (Fuzzy Wuzzy Games)
Ballpoint Universe (Arachnid Games)
Biker Bash (Slightly Mad Studios)
bit.trip presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Gaijin Games)
Blood of the Werewolf (Scientifically Proven Entertainment)
Blosom Tales (Castle Pixel)
Buddy & Me (Sunbreak Games)
CastleStorm (Zen Studios)
Chasing Aurora (Broken Rules)
Citizens of Earth (Eden Industries)
Cloudberry Kingdom (Pwnee Studios) published by Ubisoft
Coaster Crazy Deluxe (Frontier Developments)
Cosmic Highway (Maestro Interactive Games)
Craymore (NostalgiCO)
C-Wars (Onipunks)
Darkened Light (Rider Games)
Darts Up (EnjoyUp Games)
Days of Dawn (Bumblebee Games)
Dusty Raging Fist (PD Design Studio)
Fade into Darkness (Maestro Interactive Games)
Festival of Magic (SnowCastle Games)
Forgotten Memories (Psychoz Interactive)
Funky Barn (Tantalus Software)
Get Off My Lawn (Scientifically Proven Entertainment)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dream (Black Forest Games)
Guns of Icarus Online: Adventure Mode (Muse Games)
iDEAME U (Nicalis)
Kung-Fu Rabbit (Neko Entertainment)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
Mighty Switch Force: Hyper-Drive Edition (WayForward)
Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Renegade Kid)
Mutant Mudds 2 (Renegade Kid)
Nano Assault Neo (Shin'en Multimedia)
Noctemis (Lacuna Entertainment)
Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty (Oddworld Inhabitants)
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (Oddworld Inhabitants)
Oliver and Spike: Dimension Jumpers (Rock Pocket Games)
Ostrich Island (MeDungron Games)
Percy's Predicament (Maestro Interactive Games)
Pier Solar and the Great Architects HD (Watermelon Co.)
Project Cars (Slightly Mad Studios)
Project Y2K (Ackkstudios)
Puddle (Neko Entertainment)
Q.U.B.E (Toxic Games)
Rex Rocket (Castle Pixel)
Road Redemption (DarkSeas Games)
Saber Riders and the Star Sheriffs (Firehazard Studio)
Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails (Dakko Dakko)
Shadow of the Eternals (Precursor Games)
Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party (KnapNok Games)
Squids (The Game Bakers)
Star Beast: The Stellar War (Pixel Entertainment)
Super Ubie Land (Notion Games)
Tengami (Nyamyam)
Terra Incognita (Back to Basics Gaming)
Teslagrad (Rain Games)
The Cave (Doublefine Productions) published by Sega
The Mystery Cities of Gold (Neko Entertainment)
The Pinball Arcade (Farsight Studios)
The 90's Arcade Racer (Nicalis)
Toki Tori 2 (Two Tribes)
Trine 2: Director's Cut (Frozenbyte)
Two Brothers (Ackkstudios)
Unepic (EnjoyUp Games)
Zen Pinball 2 (Zen Studios)


Indie games announced for PlayStation 4
Aban Hawkins and the 1001 Spikes (Nicalis)
Basement Crawl (Bloober Team)
Blacklight: Retribution (Zombie Studios)
Carmageddon: Reincarnation (Stainless Games)
Contrast (Compulsion Games)
DayZ (Bohemia Interactive)
Doki-Doki Universe (HumaNature Studios)
Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment)
Galak-Z: The Dimensional (17-bit)
HohoKum (Honeyslug) published by SCE
Mercenary Kings (Tribute Games)
Octodad: Dadliest Catch (Young Horses)
Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty (Oddworld Inhabitants)
Outlast (Red Barrels Studio)
Primal Carnage: Genesis (Lukewarm Media)
Ray's the Dead (RagTag Studios)
Rocketbirds 2: Evolution (Ratloop)
Secret Ponchos (Switchblade Monkeys)
Shadow Warrior (Devolver Digital)
Super Motherload (XGEN Studios)
The Pinball Arcade (FarSight Studios)
The Walking Dead: Season Two (Telltale Games)
The Witness (Jonathan Blow)
Tiny Brains (Spearhead Games)
Transistor (SuperGiant Games)
War Thunder (Gaijin Entertainment)
Warframe (Digital Extremes)


Indie games announced for Xbox One
Below (Capybara Games) published by Microsoft Studios
Carmageddon: Reincarnation (Stainless Games) published by tba
Minecraft: Xbox One Edition (Mojang) published by Microsoft Studios

 

[Noogy]

I thought you said: "Nobody is being forced to sign anything. If a developer signs a document that they don't agree with, well, I can't really sympathize.".

This was in the context of exclusivity, where the terms are clearly laid out (and can usually be negotiated). On the other hand, being screwed because of a botched launch date or unfulfilled promotional promise sucks.

 

[Majmun]

Notch always seems so negative towards MS, and yet Minecraft is MS console exclusive.

He always hints but never tells.