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Adinnieken on 21 July 2013
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badgenome said:
Adinnieken said:

 

As an example, there is nothing preventing a developer from creating malware.  I'm even going to go out on a limb and say within the first year there will be malware disguised as a game.

Uh... that's pretty fucking out there.

Unlike Android, you still have to have a PS dev kit. And unless Sony has enough faith in you to give you a loaner, that's not cheap. Just because they aren't forcing people into a relationship with publishers (who, in a digital landscape, aren't really necessary) and they are streamlining their concept approval process doesn't mean that any old body can put any old thing on Sony's network. There's still certification, and it's still a walled garden. It's just that the wall is a little lower than it used to be.

Ah...see with the Xbox One you can develop an Xbox One game with any Windows 8 PC.  Using Visual Studio, develop the game for Windows 8, as well as Xbox One, publish.  Whether they continue the peer reviews or not, I don't know, but with XBLIG there is a peer review.  Once complete, it gets published.

The difference between Xbox 360 and Xbox One is that Xbox One games available through the Xbox LIVE Apps store will run in the Apps VM, not the games VM.  But they're now capable of including Achievements and Medals.

You need a dev kit if you want your game to run in the Games VM and be featured in the Xbox LIVE Games store.

EDIT:  I think the role of the publisher changes with digital distribution, but there is a role a publisher plays.  I am fairly certain for simple legal reasons, Sony is assuming those publisher roles with indie developers.  The difference is that Microsoft is saying it. 

Console developers do the following with every retail game:  Press, package, promote and distribute games.  These are their responsibilities for any game published on their console.  

The publisher, on a console, is purely a financial and legal function.  They provide the financial backing to the developer to complete the project, and they manage the legal obligations.  They are similar to a Record Label/Recording Studio.  They serve a purpose, but a publisher doesn't have to be big.  They just have to exist when everything goes to pots.  An enterprising law firm likely could set themselves up as a publisher.

At some point publishers, in the computer model, will be like agents are in the music/movie industry.  They deal with all the negotiations, etc and the developers create the content.