Microsoft might let future developers offer consumers early beta access to their games on Microsoft consoles, according to Chris Hecker, the developer behind the indie game SpyParty.

“The nice thing is [console companies] are all starting to flirt with early access beta stuff on consoles,” Hecker said in a recent interview with OnlySP. “Microsoft’s talked about that with me.”

Support for independent game development has been a recurring talking point in this year’s console war. Microsoft’s recent reveal of the ID@Xbox program was the company’s first big show of support for the indie dev community. Earlier this year, Sony’s Adam Boyes said the company is open to letting developers open paid alpha access to their games. Allowing indie devs to open early access would help any game designer promote their game while crowd-sourcing its testing, providing for a cleaner game at launch.

“There’s a huge difference between getting the game running versus getting a fully finished, [certified] game running on a console,” said Hecker, whose game is now in beta on PC with eventual plans for a console launch and a single-player mode. “If I can get on the early access stuff, it would allow me to get on consoles earlier and do testing and make sure everything is balanced for a competitive multiplayer game like SpyParty.”

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