Microsoft: ID @ Xbox Planned a Long Time Ago, Not a Reaction to Sony

According to Microsoft, while the Xbox One won't have any indie games at launch, they certainly plan to allow anyone to develop games on the console in the future, having announced the Independent Developers at Xbox or ID @ Xbox program in August and insisting this was the plan all along. 

“There has certainly been system sellers that have been indie games – Minecraft is a system seller,” Microsoft's Chris Carla told MCV. “Independent developers are hugely important for the entire industry ecosystem. I am massively excited by titles such as Titanfall and Halo. But I am equally excited when I see games like Papers Please, or Gone Home.

"Games can be hugely diverse. When you turn on your Xbox One, you see the broadest, most diverse spectrum of entertainment.”

While Sony has been most active in courting indie developers Carla says Microsoft always intended to attract the these developers.

"The origins of this goes all the way back to Xbox One’s architecture,” he said. “We’ve been planning this for a long time. You can see where this started with 360’s indie titles. We haven’t even released a system yet, so I’d say it’s not a late announcement, it’s quite a timely one.”

The Xbox One will launch on November 22nd while ID @ Xbox will start to bear fruit in 2014.