Report: Microsoft drops $40,000 Xbox 360 game patch fee

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Microsoft has reportedly dropped the substantial fee it charges for re-certification of Xbox 360 games following title updates, according to Eurogamer's "multiple development sources". The quiet change to policy occurred earlier this year, and significantly benefits indie developers who were often stung by the fee, reported to be around $40,000 per patch.

The new process for Xbox 360 game certification involves Microsoft charging an initial fee to certify the game, followed by free re-certification for all future title updates. Previously Microsoft granted just one free title update per game, with all other patches including the fee; a process designed to encourage developers to polish their games to the best of their ability before submitting them for review.

However, the new rules allegedly include something along the lines of a 'fair use policy', whereby Microsoft will still charge developers if they're deemed to be making an excessive amount of patch submissions. At this stage it's unclear if the same policy of free game title update certification will carry over to the Xbox One, but it's at least a step in the right direction for supporting independent developers.

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Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsoft-drops-40000-xbox-360-game-patch-fee

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"Report: Microsoft drops $40,000 Xbox 360 game patch fee" :: Login/Create an Account :: 119 comments

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MarluxiaPosted:

oh great here comes more TU's

GoldPeakTeaPosted:

So will we be getting more TU's on games?

LuckyOtterPosted:

xCeeTee Back when I started gaming, games were finished before they were published, not released half finished and buggy and then updated after. That's why I respected Rockstar's decision to release GTA IV at a later date.


No. Just No. If you are talking about games on the original Xbox or PS1 or even the N64 then you are wrong. They had plenty of glitches and problems. The reason they didn't have updates is because they didn't have a way to distribute the updates without making a new disk for everybody to buy. Which they did in some cases. Like Game of the Year Editions usually came with updates. Such as Morrowind GoY. It added fixes to where the game wouldn't crash as often. Plus a couple of other things. My point is that no matter how long you test a game there is still going to be problems with it. I guarantee there will be a patch for GTA 5 within the first month if not sooner to fix a problem.

LuckyOtterPosted:

maXam
XCaptainDinkXX
Turnt
HoytVolker that's good news, we might get day z now :D


Only coming to PS4 buddy.


Not confirmed, he said they were leaning more towards ps4 because of that and the fact they are helping Indie devs, though they aren't exactly an indie dev.


Who cares, the Xbox One is a toaster that was made by money grabbing idiots who realised they had added to many money grabbing schemes so they removed two.
Microsoft can do one, PS4 here I come!


Really the Xbox One is a toaster? So you're telling me it can make toast? For some reason I highly doubt that...

WhisperPosted:

xCeeTee Back when I started gaming, games were finished before they were published, not released half finished and buggy and then updated after. That's why I respected Rockstar's decision to release GTA [b]V[/b] at a later date.

FTFY.

Zer0Posted:

xCeeTee Back when I started gaming, games were finished before they were published, not released half finished and buggy and then updated after. That's why I respected Rockstar's decision to release GTA IV at a later date.


when did you start gaming

StonerzardPosted:

Back when I started gaming, games were finished before they were published, not released half finished and buggy and then updated after. That's why I respected Rockstar's decision to release GTA IV at a later date.

Zer0Posted:

so should we expect to see more updates now?

YinPosted:

That is a very steep price for an update anyway. I thought it was $10,000 anyway? At least, that is what I was hearing a couple of years back. That is still steep. This is also something that I understand why Microsoft wanted to do this, but it just does not help anybody. It ruins quite a bit.

maXamPosted:

XCaptainDinkXX
Turnt
HoytVolker that's good news, we might get day z now :D


Only coming to PS4 buddy.


Not confirmed, he said they were leaning more towards ps4 because of that and the fact they are helping Indie devs, though they aren't exactly an indie dev.


Who cares, the Xbox One is a toaster that was made by money grabbing idiots who realised they had added to many money grabbing schemes so they removed two.
Microsoft can do one, PS4 here I come!


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