US-based multinational software corporation Microsoft is no longer charging developers for updating and patching their games, according to reports from multiple sources. Even though this is undoubtedly good news, the most interesting part about it is that the company did not release any official statement to confirm this change.
If it was up to Microsoft, this latest update would have gone completely unnoticed, as the company did not even confirm if it was true or not. However, various developers have stated that charging is no longer happening for patching. As it is usually the case, a developer is given one free update for their games, as soon as the certification is paid. This still does not mean that developers can use it indefinitely, without having to pay any fees, but for those developers who need it occasionally, this is great news and a huge step forward.
This is particularly important for so-called indie developers, who would rather leave their games as they are than pay thousands of dollars in order to update them.
On the other hand, some indie developers – such as Polytron which developed Fez – have discovered patching to be extremely dangerous ever since a bug occurred which corrupted save files and that was the result of the same patch. In order for this to be fixed, it would require re-certification and more money to be paid and this is something Polytron was not interested in doing.
