As next generation consoles compete head to head with each other, a new battleground has opened up over which platform is the most "indie friendly". I've noticed this ramp up recently as indie devs, journalists and gamers write heated blogs and angst-filled tweets fly around in all directions. This kind of debate is corrosive and unhealthy in the long term for both platform holders and especially indie game devs for a number of reasons:
- Things may change. You may need to work with different partners in future for whatever reason. Publicly, and very visibly accusing one particular platform holder of being unfriendly to indies (and embarrasing them as such) may come to bite you in the ass a few years down the line.
- It's unedifying, and can lead to indies appearing entitled and arrogant.
- Is antagonistic, and pits indies against each other by which platform they choose to develop for. That in turn endangers the community spirit of openness and helping each other out.
- Belies that not all platforms are the same. Each has different hardware, services and capabilities, and different demographics for their respective audiences. The decisions that result in that makeup are often compromises, and it may be that something indie devs want to use has only been made possible because of some other perceived "indie unfriendly" policy.
Moreover, no platform is better or worse than any other. Each platform has its pros and cons when it comes to indie game dev.
(Reposted from my blog)