Eufloria dev pans Microsoft indie publishing costs as "prohibitive"

Eufloria developer Rudolf Kremers has added his voice to a chorus of dissatisfaction with Microsoft's indie support systems.

"For Microsoft the cost would be prohibitive, as they had all sorts of mandatory features," Kremers told PSN Stores of why Eufloria isn't coming to other console networks.

"Multiplayer and the like. And of course you have to use their QA. The cost picture would be so prohibitive that self publishing would be impossible."

Kremers said that while the team couldn't afford to entirely self-publish and weren't willing to sign over their IP to Sony, the company's indie publishing fund gave them a leg up.

"One of the qualities of the pub fund is that it’s a viable avenue for micro teams like ourselves; Microsoft don’t have that anymore," he said.

"They have XBLIG, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish when it comes to revenue."

The developer aid all three console networks showed interest, but with Microsoft and Nintendo there were "too many hoops to jump through".

Kremers comments come on top of evidence suggesting indie developers are going cold on Xbox Live, and the revelation of Microsoft's harsh publishing requirements.

Sony hasn't escaped the sudden outpouring of criticism, either, with one third-party declaring it "laughable" to hold up the PSN as an indie haven.

Eufloria is an unusual strategy-lite game once known as Dyson, in which players grow and spread tree-like structures to protect planets from attack. It's available now via the PlayStation Network, but is also available on PC.

Thanks, Shack.