Microsoft’s Xbox Creators Program aims to get indies on to console faster

It looks like indie developers may soon have free reign on Xbox Live and Windows 10 as yesterday at GDC, Microsoft announces the new Xbox Live Creators Program. This new program targets indie developers and gives them the tools to “rapidly publish Xbox Live enabled games on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs”, with exposure provided by a dedicated section of the Xbox Live and Windows 10 store.

The idea behind the program is really to allow anyone the opportunity to create a Universal Windows Platform game with easy integration of Xbox Live features like GameDVR, broadcasting, leaderboards and social features. If Xbox Live is integrated, then Microsoft will put you on the fast-track to getting published on the Xbox One and Windows 10 stores.

According to Microsoft's reps at GDC, integrating these features should only result in “minimal additional development time”. On top of that, the Creator's Program allows developers to set everything up through a retail Xbox One, so you won't have to shell out for a costly development kit.

While this program is intended to get indie games onto Xbox Live and Windows 10 faster, the ID@Xbox program will still be around for developers who want a deeper partnership with Microsoft, which includes things like promotional/marketing support and access to more Xbox Live tools.

KitGuru Says: Getting a game onto consoles can be a fairly lengthy process due to all of the checks software needs to go through to gain approval. Microsoft and Sony have been working on lowering that barrier to entry more and more this generation though. Hopefully this new Xbox Creators Program will lead to some great games getting the attention they deserve. 

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