[Update]
Microsoft confirmed Game Informer's report about the indie self-publishing plan, certification process and debug mode for every Xbox One console. Xbox chief product officer, Marc Whitten, released this statement in response.
"Our vision is that every person can be a creator. 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. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We'll have more details on the program and the timeline at gamescom in August."
[Original Story]
According to Game Informer Sources, Microsoft will continue to change the Xbox One environment by introducing a new indie self-publishing plan and new certification process.
Multiple sources tell Game Informer that Microsoft will introduce an indie self-publishing plan that will all independent developers to publish their games digitally without the backing of an established publisher.
Indie publishing on the Xbox 360 required that studios find a publisher to back their games; almost like the publisher vouching for the legitimacy of the product. Sony made indie self-publishing a key focal point for the PlayStation 4 during E3 and showed a number of indie games coming to the platform.
In addition to the new self-publishing plan, the rumor says that Microsoft will also introduce a new certification process to speed up the release of games and updates. The new certification process should allow for quicker turn around. Developers constantly fight the certification process as they want to release updates in a timely fashion, but can't due to the lengthy process. Just a few weeks ago, we found out that Microsoft stopped charging for title updates in April of this year.
Finally, Game Informer sources also claim that every Xbox One unit can enter a debug mode. With the debug mode, if authorized by Microsoft, it will allow owners to play pre-release games and even access game betas. Each beta test reportedly will allow for 25,000 users at a time.
We will update if more information releases.
Source: Game Informer
