Welp.

Microsoft continues to pull a 180 on their initial intentions of the Xbox One. The latest casualty is their previously announced plan to allow retail console units be used as dev kits. This would have been a boon particularly to the indie development community, but it's not happening anymore. I feel sorry for anyone that bought a console under the presumption that the dev kit program would become an actual thing. Although at this point, given everything else Microsoft has reversed on the console, is anyone even surprised?

MOD EDIT: This is likely false based on several other sources - http://kotaku.com/no-microsoft-didnt-reverse-course-on-xbox-one-dev-kits-1602522324

But didn't Sony sort of do that with the PS1, to decent success? (The "using the retail system as a dev kit" thing, not the "cancelling the idea" thing.)

Sure, let's backpedal on bad ideas (the DRM, forced Kinect) and good ideas (retail consoles being usable as dev consoles) alike. Backpedaling for everyone!

Just give the X1 time, and it'll revert back to being the Xbox 360. And then the original Xbox. And then the Dreamcast? And then an egg.

@bisonhero: Shenmue 3 confirmed for the Xbox Onecast.

who to believe?

Though would not be surprised if it is scrapped.

This is a big bummer but also not surprising. Something that will help Microsoft level or recoup costs are licensing fees and rental/sale of development hardware. If they went forward with this plan then that cuts another revenue stream off or makes it a much smaller one.

This isn't a major problem where other platforms have this restriction but it does make indie development have another hurdle to jump over.

What the actual fuck Microsoft. At this point every single ambition they had for that thing one year ago has been thrown in the trash. What will this console look like another year from now?

@bigjeffrey said:

If they blindsided Charla with this news, that would be hilarious, in an incredibly sad sort of way.

But yeah, could just be that this whole thing isn't true.

It doesn't seem all that shitty - they're still not charging for devkits, so indies pay $399 less than they were before. Considering how the $100 Greenlight fee was supposedly breaking the bank, this seems like something they'll enjoy.

That has been a theme throughout the xbox one as well: Two people who are supposed to be able to speak on authority saying two different things. It leaves people confused which is what we have now where no one is sure who is correct.

yup was not true

http://kotaku.com/no-microsoft-didnt-reverse-course-on-xbox-one-dev-kits-1602522324

The comments today were inaccurate. We remain committed to ensuring the best possible solution for developers and hobbyists to create games for Xbox One. We will share more details at a later date.

Apparently this is untrue

http://kotaku.com/no-microsoft-didnt-reverse-course-on-xbox-one-dev-kits-1602522324

Just another case of no one at Microsoft actually knowing what's up, then.

Hey guys! Maybe this will be a good lesson to not trust everything you read on the internet. I know we want all our information instantaneously, but maybe next time wait until multiple sources have validation before sharing it with everyone?

I mean, that's kin to a rumor, you know?

@yoshisaur: The problem with that though is Microsoft has given contradictory information in their own press releases before.

@hailinel: Alright so this is something that we are going to be more strict about in the future, but in the future indicate that your topic may be or is based on rumors or speculation. That and correct your title in light of new information.

Sony/Nintendo does the same thing. Big corporations tend to accidentally leave people out of the loop on occasion.

Didn't this same sort of thing happen with The Last Guardian? IGN reported that it was canceled, and then a short while later, it turns out they were completely wrong? I'm really hoping this isn't a common trend in video game journalism.

The GameSpot article I read did not suggest it as being such. That being said, I apologize for any misinformation spread.

Also, that sixty character thread title limit does not help in getting a lot of info across.

@hailinel: The sixty character thread title limit continues to be the absolute worst. Baffled that through all the site tweaking and redesigns, they've never bumped it up to 80 or 90 characters.

@hailinel: Yeah I cannot edit the title to properly convey the new information. As the original topic is no longer true thus it cannot be discussed in its original form, the title cannot be edited to make it more accurate, and there now exists a staff article related to the matter I am locking this forum topic.