[gamblor956]

You're misinformed.

Microsoft receives a fee from developers that participate in their licensing program, which is generally a royalty on each sale ranging from 1% to 30% depending on the negotiating leverage of the publisher.

Developers are not required to participate in that program to sell games/software for the xBox, and some don't, but MS doesn't guarantee that any unlicensed software will work with the current version of the system or any (software) updates to the system.

The same is true of Sony as well.

[nodamage]

Can you cite a source for this claim and provide an example of a game that was physically distributed in stores without the publisher having a signed publishing agreement with Microsoft?

[hobofan]

> Developers are not required to participate in that program to sell games/software for the xBox, and some don't

They may not be required to take part in the standard distribution licensing program, but instead have the option of participating in ID@XBOX, where the games still have to be certified by MS to be allowed on the platform. This program also seems to be exclusive to digital distribution and smaller indie studios.

In the end MS is still always in a position to take revenue cuts for access to their platform, and mostly exercises it.