Popular PC indie game, Broforce, developed by Free Lives Games, has recently announced that they will be releasing the final game on PlayStation 4 and Steam, but not on Xbox One.
The game’s Creative Director, Evan Greenwood, revealed to Gaming Bolt that the reason why Broforce will not be on the Xbox One because “Mostly because Sony reached out to us with a deal we could not reasonably refuse…As far as I know Microsoft has a clause in their contract where they won’t accept an indie game if it launches on Xbox after PlayStation.”
For the few that are unaware, ID@Xbox’s parity clause, one that has been quite controversial in the gaming circles, states that independent games cannot release on Xbox after it has released on Sony consoles. There are also exceptions to this rule, such as Outlast, which released on the Xbox One four months after the PlayStation 4 release.
Chris Charla, one of ID@Xbox’s Directors, revealed on NeoGAF, that Free Lives “have never contacted ID@Xbox about coming to Xbox, so our policies don’t really come into it, not really sure why they brought that up.”
Editor’s Note: Personally speaking, Evan Greenwood admitting that Sony’s pockets ran deep for them was respectable. Sony seems to be combating the ID@Xbox’s parity clause with their bank account, and I respect it. I also respect Microsoft wanting to make sure they get the indie games at the same time as Sony because, at least according to Phil Spencer, “they don’t want to be viewed as second-rate.” Chris Charla’s response also ties my feelings up in a pretty bow.
Source: GamingBolt via NeoGAF
Shame, since Broforce is a fun ass gamed.