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Forums - Microsoft - MS on parity clause: to make sure that players get the best Indie games. admits problems

endimion on 23 March 2014
Dr.Henry_Killinger said:
endimion said:

I'm not talking about going to court for any reasons.... policy or not this is not a legal issue therefore there is no reason it can't be debated in favor of both parties.... I have signed half a dozen of contract and policy books lately if there was stuff I didn't like in it.... I just asked for the stuff to be removed from the policies or the contract or to adjust something else in my favor to compensate or there was no deal.... even when the company holding the contract was a multi billion euros company... it's in their best interest to adapt to each situation if it means gain for both parties...


fact is if it is not a federal or state law that is being broken it can be change in a case by case situation... that is true for any and everything in the business world....

in other words if they are already released on an other platform and if they are successful they have plenty of weight to convince MS to bend the policy... or do a deal like I release first my next game on XB if you let me release my current IPs on your console first.... like I said if it isn't a law it is nothing more than a line on a piece of paper and those line can all be changed no matter who is behind it.... it's all about incentive for and from both parties.... and it doesn't take long to change... and doesn't cost much time or money especially for big companies that have a dedicated policy department.... 10 minutes on a friday evening is enough...

Look, that's a reasonable argument but here is the problem:

The Policy obviously benifits Microsoft, the onlt one that would be trying to convince them would be the indie. Indies are tiny and don't have much leverage or sway unless of course they become mainstream and stop being truly indie. With that being said, their is no way an indie company is going to be able to negotiate this policy change (not a contract) with Microsoft, even if its "succesful" by its own standards on other platforms. This reason alone is enough to bar indies from even trying to negotiate with Microsoft because that is an extreme hassle, especially for less then half of current gen marketshare.

agreed with the logic but bold to me is a huge loss for MS not the indie dev.... so if indeed successful they must have some leverage... Ms is not completely stupid if the next minecraft comes out first on an other platform I'm pretty sure they won't be stuborn to the point of missing an oportunity to be part of a big indie game install base....



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endimion on 23 March 2014

in any case I don't really see the logic in such policy... but hey my opinion is also too many indie kills the indie.... so we'll see but I'll take quality over quantity in the indie realm any day.... now I'm not sure this policy will help for that... unless the policy goes like that... "we ask for parity but on a case by case if you need financial help and your game is top notch we'll work with you or maybe help you financially somehow..."



Dr.Henry_Killinger on 24 March 2014
endimion said:
Dr.Henry_Killinger said:
endimion said:

I'm not talking about going to court for any reasons.... policy or not this is not a legal issue therefore there is no reason it can't be debated in favor of both parties.... I have signed half a dozen of contract and policy books lately if there was stuff I didn't like in it.... I just asked for the stuff to be removed from the policies or the contract or to adjust something else in my favor to compensate or there was no deal.... even when the company holding the contract was a multi billion euros company... it's in their best interest to adapt to each situation if it means gain for both parties...


fact is if it is not a federal or state law that is being broken it can be change in a case by case situation... that is true for any and everything in the business world....

in other words if they are already released on an other platform and if they are successful they have plenty of weight to convince MS to bend the policy... or do a deal like I release first my next game on XB if you let me release my current IPs on your console first.... like I said if it isn't a law it is nothing more than a line on a piece of paper and those line can all be changed no matter who is behind it.... it's all about incentive for and from both parties.... and it doesn't take long to change... and doesn't cost much time or money especially for big companies that have a dedicated policy department.... 10 minutes on a friday evening is enough...

Look, that's a reasonable argument but here is the problem:

The Policy obviously benifits Microsoft, the onlt one that would be trying to convince them would be the indie. Indies are tiny and don't have much leverage or sway unless of course they become mainstream and stop being truly indie. With that being said, their is no way an indie company is going to be able to negotiate this policy change (not a contract) with Microsoft, even if its "succesful" by its own standards on other platforms. This reason alone is enough to bar indies from even trying to negotiate with Microsoft because that is an extreme hassle, especially for less then half of current gen marketshare.

agreed with the logic but bold to me is a huge loss for MS not the indie dev.... so if indeed successful they must have some leverage... Ms is not completely stupid if the next minecraft comes out first on an other platform I'm pretty sure they won't be stuborn to the point of missing an oportunity to be part of a big indie game install base....

Nah, your still thinking of it in terms of AAA, most indies are profitable/succesfull with as little as 50-100k or even less copies usually all digital. Thats definetly not gonna move any consoles and MS would probably loses money if they advertised it, so I don't think they would much care. Thats why its better to have actually quality control then a gateman clause.



In this day and age, with the Internet, ignorance is a choice! And they're still choosing Ignorance! - Dr. Filthy Frank

Dr.Henry_Killinger on 24 March 2014
endimion said:
in any case I don't really see the logic in such policy... but hey my opinion is also too many indie kills the indie.... so we'll see but I'll take quality over quantity in the indie realm any day.... now I'm not sure this policy will help for that... unless the policy goes like that... "we ask for parity but on a case by case if you need financial help and your game is top notch we'll work with you or maybe help you financially somehow..."

Thats the problem with steam they're practically letting everything in.

PS Store is quality controlling it, giving the good games more spotlight and having some of the crappier games on ps3. Since they only promote the cream of the crop then it preserves quality. In fact, thats how Nintendo stopped the gaming crash with forced quality control.



In this day and age, with the Internet, ignorance is a choice! And they're still choosing Ignorance! - Dr. Filthy Frank