Notch: Windows 8 Could Be “Very Very Bad” for Indies

Notch thinks Windows 8 will either make or break indie developers.

Minecraft creator and former lead developer, Markus “Notch” Persson, has added his voice to the growing chorus of concerns about the upcoming Windows 8 OS.

“If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general,” he said during a Q&A on Reddit. “If we can keep open platforms around, there’s going to be a lot of very interesting games in ten years, mixed in with the huge AAA games that we all love.”

While Microsoft hasn’t detailed its plans for the new operating system, it’s widely believed that the company’s push for an Apple-like app store will make Windows 8 far more restrictive than its predecessors. The OS has been a hot topic ever since Valve’s Gabe Newell labeled it a “catastrophe.”

“I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space,” he told former Microsoft Game Studios head, Ed Fries. “I think that we’re going to lose some of the top-tier PC [original equipment manufacturers]. They’ll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, it’s going to be a good idea to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.”

Blizzard’s Rob Pardo voiced his agreement shortly after.

“[Windows 8] is not awesome for Blizzard either,” he tweeted.

Source: Reddit