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I’ve created developer accounts with numerous companies for personal use with home automation and have never once been charged a fee. They’re ripping people off with this (ala reddit API access) plain and simple. What resources of theirs will you be using running an emulator on your console to play game files that your provide yourself?
How is that a rip off? You pay 20€ once and get the ability to sideload any UWP app and develop for the console.
Compare it to both Nintendo and Sony where:
Considering how locked consoles were and still are (Except for the PS3 “other OS”) period. Being able to get a decent current gen console, that doubles as an emulator, with development capabilities for an additional 20 euros is a gift, not a rip-off.
Nintendo and Sony are also a ripoff, which doesn’t make Microsoft’s implementation any less of a cash grab. As I said, what resources of theirs are you using in any of this process that would necessitate a fee to cover their costs? As you said you pay the fee to gain the ability to install your software on your console.