The parity clause that forces independent developers to release games on Xbox at the same time as other platforms has caused a lot of discussion within the game community, and Microsoft Game Studio honcho Phil Spencer gave his take on it as part Kris Graft’s fireside chat at the Game Developers Conference, reported on Gamasutra.

Spencer explained that the platform parity is about making sure that when they buy an Xbox players get “the best independent games, state-of-the-art and new.”

That said, the clause doesn’t come without problems, and he admits that some developers “can’t afford to develop on both platforms simultaneously.” As a consequence those that start on another platform may be locked out permanently.

It’s quite obvious that Microsoft’s best interest is to defend its own platforms, but we’ll have to see if Spencer’s awareness of the flaws of the clause will lead to changes in the future.

souce: http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/03/22/microsoft-on-xbox-parity-clause-to-make-sure-that-players-get-the-best-indie-games-admits-problems/

I was wondering why Sam and Max Season 3 was on PS3 and not Xbox 360. Me and my daughter loved that series (that's where my 360 avatar came from--beating Season One) and kept waiting for the 360 version. It never happened. Guess I should have gotten the PS3 version instead of trying to keep them all on one console.

Why cant they just do the right thing, it be such positive pr they desperately need.

Just drop that bs clause.

Expect the 180 on this as well in the next E3.

Makes no sense at all. Let your gamers be able to play the game at some point as opposed to not be able to play at all. This seems like an indirect attempt to get Indie devs to release on the Bone first given that they have limited resources and the PS4 doesn't have any parity clause.

My view is the game should be delivered in the best possible way. If they are able to develop on both at the same time and both are ready then great go with that but if they don't have the resources then let the smaller studios release on one before the other.

This is especially so at the beginning of a new ten when they are getting used to new technology.

I saw this on Eurogamer. I find it kind of funny that in he promotes paid alphas in the same breath.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-03-21-phil-spencer-on-bringing-vr-paid-alphas-to-xbox-one

Microsoft's Phil Spencer has spoken about the possibility of bringing VR and paid alphas to Xbox One during a talk at this year's GDC.

Speaking to Gamasutra's editor-in-chief Kris Graft on-stage, Spencer said that Microsoft is looking into how it can bring experiences like DayZ and Rust - games which are unfinished yet still attract a huge userbase - to the Xbox One.

"I think there's an area of evolution that, as platform holders, we'll go through this generation in helping developers fund their games socially," Spencer said. "You don't really have that in place on console as you do in some other places. I think that in order for great diverse content to exist, it's going to be important that us as platform holders think about how we can allow gamers invest in things that they want to see built, so that developers have the funds to bring those things to market. Paid alphas I look at one of those things."

So on one hand they want to bring the best indie game experiences to XBox One, but if they can make money, unfinished games are welcome too. At least leave one single little convenience of console gaming intact vs PC gaming, games that are intended to be finished and work on release.

Wow. You ARE crazy!

Classic example of a company not thinking its policies through.

That kind of annoys me.  It's not just a lie, it's a totally obvious lie.  Keeping games off the platform is NOT in the best interest of your consumers.  This is about money, pure and simple.

They still have work to do.  This reminds me of the situation on the 360 where they denied their custimers Machinarium just because it had been on other platforms already.  They need to get this stuff sorted out or it will be the fans who suffer.