Microsoft No Longer Charging Developers For Xbox 360 Game Patches
Besides the hostility Microsoft has had for indie developers over the years, one of the major obstacles standing in the ways of indie developers developing for the Xbox 360 was the fact that Microsoft would charge a fee to patch games. Such a fee may not be a big deal for a company like EA, but when you’re a small-time developer just looking for a name for yourself, that tens of thousands of dollars fee is really quite steep. Luckily for indie developers, Microsoft has now changed their patching policy to eliminate fees.
As it stands now, there is still a fee charged whenever develops first submit a game through Microsoft’s certification process. And even though patches and updates are now free, that doesn’t mean developers can spam Microsoft with excessive re-submissions. Microsoft still reserves the right to issue a charge if need be.
According to Vice President Marc Whitten and Major Nelson, the title updates fee was eliminated back in April. Fez developer Phil Fish isn’t exactly too happy about that, though. He’s been looking to patch Fez for awhile now, and until now he’s been severely limited because of the fees. When he found out about how the fees have been gone since April, he only had this to say: “You forgot to tell people.”
