Xbox Live Indie developers given free reign on release dates

It could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing, but Microsoft has now announced that Xbox Live Indie developers will have the ability to - among other things - choose the game's release date.

"Based on developer community feedback," the App Hub statement reads, "We have enabled developers to control the release of their games that have passed peer review. This feature will help developers to better coordinate social networking, press, and other opportunities for the release of their titles on Xbox LIVE Indie Games."

This should - hopefully - avoid problems like we saw with the Indie Games Winter Uprising, where many developers missed their target release dates.

According to Armless Octopus, the news has actually received mixed responses from the indie community. While some indies rejoiced, others predicted doom and gloom for the new release lists published on Fridays.

Overall though, the mood is positive - Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games summing it up, "The news made my day. This’ll make building hype for games much easier!"