Don Mattrick: Microsoft will support indie developers on Xbox One

On the same day ShackNews reported Xbox exec Matt Booty stated that indie developers would not be able to self-publish games on the Xbox One, his superior, Microsoft head of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick told Kotaku the opposite: the Xbox One will have a self-publishing indie program.

According to Mattrick last week, ”We’re going to have an independent creator program. We’re going to sponsor it. We’re going to give people tools. We’re going to give more information.”

He then added, ”That is something we think—I think—is important. That’s how I started in the industry. There’s no way we’re going to build a box that doesn’t support that.”

This was not just for Xbox Live Indie - it was aimed at Xbox Live Arcade as well.

The real question here is: why did Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo wait an entire week to reveal this conversation while Microsoft had to be questioned about their commitment to independent developers, despite the publisher releasing such indie titles as Minecraft? And why was Booty on a different page than his superior Mattrick?