Microsoft announces several new changes have been made in regards to the regulations for indie game development on the Xbox Live marketplace.
Some of the changes include the cap on file sizes have been increased from 150 MB to now 500 MB for games. The pricing structure for games was also changed where any game under 150 MB now gets the $1 price tag and a tier system for the $3 and $5 price tags.
The limit on games published was also pushed from the current 10 games to now 20 games per year from indie developers. No new rules were added to the approval process to help restrict the potential for more shovelware or rushed games.
Quote:
Bigger game sizes: The previous maximum size for Xbox Indies games was 150MB—that limit has now been increased to 500MB. This means Indies developers will be able to craft bigger, more expansive games.
Change in price structure: Previously, games that were larger than 50MB had to be priced at either 240 ($3) or 400 ($5) MS Points. That tier now starts at 150MB, meaning any games below that size limit may be priced at 80 MS Points ($1).
More releases per developer: Developers were initially limited to releasing a maximum of eight games via the Xbox Indies platform. Then, that limit was changed to 10. As of today, Microsoft has once again increased that limit, so that developers may release a maximum of 20 Xbox Indies games.
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