Xbox Live Creators Program Lets Anyone Publish Games

Microsoft is trying to give smaller developers the ability to publish videos games for the Xbox with less hoops to jump through. This is being done with a new program called the Xbox Live Creators program supporting lone developers and indie companies. With the new program the developers don’t need an expensive developers version of the Xbox One console, they can use a normal retail Xbox One as a dev platform.

Once the game is developed, the Xbox Live Creators member can then self-publish the game to the Xbox marketplace. Before the new plan went into effect the only way to get your game onto the Xbox marketplace was to be an employee of an established gaming firm or media company. If you were in neither of those categories, you had to apply to get your game on the marketplace via the ID@Xbox indie game program to get self-publishing capability.

As of now the Xbox Live Creators program is in preview stage with limited spots available. Microsoft says that more spots will become available as time passes, but gives no exact time frame. There are some caveats, the games that people participating in the program are making have to be a Universal Windows Apps able to run on any Windows 10 device and not just the Xbox One.

That means that the games developed with the program should be offered for PC gamers as well. Microsoft does have the right under program rules to remove your game if it has “harmful or inappropriate content” meaning don’t go all Pewdiepie. It’s not free to join the program if a spot is available for you.

To join will cost you somewhere between $20 and $100 and it’s not exactly clear how Microsoft will determine the amount you will be charged. You also won’t be able to enable online multiplayer in your games or integrate achievements unless you join the ID@Xbox program as well. The games created under this new program will be kept in a separate part of the store potentially limiting their reach.