Sony's PlayStation 4 Inspires Another Change for Microsoft's Xbox One (MSFT, SNE)

With very little effort, Sony SNE indirectly forced Microsoft MSFT to completely change its policies for Xbox One. Sony accomplished this simply by maintaining old policies that have been in place since the very first game console was created nearly four decades ago. During its media event at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony made the following announcement regarding PlayStation 4:

• Consumers Can Share and Sell Their Games
• Consumers Can Buy and Play Used Games Without Restriction*
• Consumers Won't Have to Maintain a Daily Internet Connection

*Individual game publishers will still be allowed to employ their own restrictions, just as they did with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. During the week after Sony's event, Microsoft announced that it had pulled the plug on its controversial policies. Consumers would now be free to share and sell their games, purchase used games and play without ever connecting to the Internet. Those were not the only changes that Microsoft made. This week, Microsoft announced that independent developers will be allowed to self-publish their games on Xbox One. Related: Will Microsoft Lure Cable Giants to Xbox One Before PlayStation 4 and Apple TV? "Our vision is that every person can be a creator," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's Chief Product Officer of Xbox, said in a statement. "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." Whitten told IGN that these features may not be available immediately at launch, but they will be coming to Xbox One sooner than later. Up until now, Sony was thought to be far more receptive to the needs of indie developers, who already have the option to self-publish on PlayStation 4. This week Sony announced that it will hold quarterly development events to bring indie developers together. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ