The controversial policy of the "parity clause," which requires games to launch on the same day on other platforms, has impacted indie development on Xbox One. That way, unless the game is exclusive to the Xbox platform, Microsoft can apparently be assured that they won't be receiving hand-me-down ports from PC and PlayStation 4.
While this has stirred the pot and brought criticism on the Xbox One, ID@Xbox Director Chris Charla believes that this policy has been exaggerated, speaking on the Inner Circle podcast:
If you're worried about policies, we try to be really easy to get in touch with. When we talk to developers, we try to be really transparent. Don't assume that something you read on NeoGAF is our policy, just talk to us.
As an example, he "would love to see [No Man's Sky]", the highly-touted indie title by Hello Games which should release for PS4 and PC this year, on Xbox One. At the same time, in general, Charla doesn't want to see an Xbox One port of an indie game "some months later" without it feeling "fresh" in some way.
At GDC, Mike Rose of tinyBuild Games argued that the PlayStation 4 is "currently on top" for indie development on consoles due to special deals with PS Plus and overall sales figures compared to Xbox One and Steam.
