[Update] Xbox corporate vice president Marc Whitten has provided a statement regarding self-publishing on Xbox One:
“Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox Live. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox Live. We’ll have more details on the program and the timeline at Gamescom in August.”
[Update ends here. Original story below]
Microsoft may be reversing another one of the Xbox One’s stances, as it has been reported by GameInformer that the company will announce plans to allow self-publishing on the Xbox One. Something that Sony has confirmed to be supported by the PlayStation 4.
According to their report, Microsoft will be doing something similar to the iTunes App Store, as they aim to have a 14-day turnaround when it comes to approval by only checking for ‘terms of service violations and significant bugs’ and devs will be able to set their own prices and release dates.
An unconfirmed piece of information also states that the Xbox One could be used as a debug console, where Microsoft can authorize console IDs to play unreleased games and thus make beta testing and the like easier to accomplish.
Microsoft has yet to comment on the matter or make an official announcement.