ID@Xbox launch parity clause will continue despite indie concerns, says Harrison

Microsoft's Phil Harrison has stressed that the controversial launch parity clause employed by ID@Xbox will continue on a case-by-case basis, despite concern from indies that meeting the company's launch demands will prove problematic.

It follows my massive interview with Vlambeer's Rami Ismail, during which we discussed the intricacies of the ID@Xbox parity clause and it's negative impact on indie teams, as well as Sony's approach to independent creators.

Now, speaking with Edge, vice president of Xbox Phil Harrison said he laughed when the ID@Xbox parity clause was called out by Sony's Adam Boyes.

He added, "Taking aside competitive positioning and all of that, the winners in all of this are game players. There are more games coming out for these platforms, there are more developers creating for these platforms, there are more fresh minds coming into our industry than any time in recent memory. And that’s so, so important to the future of our industry."

When asked if the parity clause could be dropped in the future, Harrison went on, “It’s difficult to debate these kind of commercial relationships in a media interview so you’ll forgive me for not going into the details. What I would say is that everybody in our program, whether it’s a developer or people on the platform side working with Chris [Charla, ID@Xbox boss] is committed to making sure the best games are on Xbox One.

"That’s our job, basically, if you boil it all down to the essence of what a game platform is, it’s to make sure that the biggest, best, most exciting, most creative games are on your platform and we are working super hard to make that happen.”

It looks like it's here to stay for the time being.

Via IGN.