According to Shacknews, Microsoft has said that it won't allow independent developers to self-publish on the Xbox One. Shacknews asked Matt Booty, the general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms, whether developers would still need to find a publisher in order to get their games onto Xbox Live, and he reportedly replied:
“As of right now, yes. We intend to continue to court developers in the ways that we have.”
This means that indie developers will have to ask Microsoft Game Studios or a third-party publisher to publish their games on the Xbox One. This matches up with the way things work for the Xbox 360, whereby developers can only self-publish on the relatively unsuccessful Xbox Live Indie Games section and must seek publishers to get their content on the Xbox Live Arcade, but several indies have expressed their dissatisfaction with the plans, including Super Icon (creators of the PlayStation Mobile title Life of Pixel) and Mike Bithell (of Thomas Was Alone and an unannounced second project):
"Indie devs must seek a publisher to release games on Xbox One" – FUCK YOU Microsoft! From all of us at Super Icon – a massive big Fuck You!
— Super Icon Ltd (@SuperIconLtd) May 22, 2013
oh dear. So it looks like you won't be seeing #project2 on your xbox one.. shacknews.com/article/79309/…
— Mike Bithell (@mikeBithell) May 22, 2013
Of course, this news is that much more notable because Sony has stated that indies will be able to self-publish on the PS4. You can check out reactions to the Xbox One from indie developers here.