Notch gives Xbox indie plans thumbs up

Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has endorsed Microsoft’s recently announced plan to make every Xbox One work as a dev kit.

The revelation by Xbox corporate VP Marc Whitten that indies would be able to self publish was one of the most welcome u-turns in recent industry history.

Perhaps more importantly, the technical implications of the dev kit being identical to the commercial box could eliminate a few rare but serious errors the current QA process is incapable of catching until very late in development.

"I think it’s a wonderful idea to have the actual box be the dev kits,” Persson told Edge.

"This makes 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 realise there are other factors at play here, though, like a perceived need to make sure only ‘legitimate’ developers get access to it, so a monetary barrier might still be in place."

What, if any, cost barriers Microsoft has erected will apparently be revealed at Gamescom in August, the place Whitten said his company had chosen to reveal the next round of details about its new console.

"Our vision is that every person can be a creator,” said Whitten.

“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”