Little was said from Microsoft about indie developers on the Xbox One when it was first announced in May. It wasn’t until late August that Microsoft announced the ID@Xbox (Independent Developers @ Xbox) program for self-publishing. Details have been scarce since, but we’re now getting an update about the initiative from Microsoft to promote indie developers.
Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox, details some of the recent progress his team has made. While the Xbox One launched to consumers nearly two weeks ago, his team is still working hard on their project to make ID@Xbox a success for all independent developers who are interested in making games for the Xbox One.
Currently, Chris and his team are working to lower the barriers to entry for self-publishing on Xbox One, providing Unity for free to any Xbox One developer, hold developer events and working behind the scenes to turn any retail Xbox One into a dev kit. Pretty impressive stuff or a company that was initially slammed by the press for their apparent lack of interested in indie devs.
Right now they’ve had thousands of developers submit interested in the ID@Xbox program. For the first wave of indie titles they’re working closely with a set of developers who have a track record of unique and interesting games. There are more than 50 studios with dev kits right now that will make up the first wave of independent games for the Xbox One. Chris also provided a small list of some games/studios that are now working on titles for the Xbox One.
Crytek has built Ryse: Son of Rome for the Xbox One, but has also expressed interest in self-publishing on the Xbox One and are currently in the ID@Xbox program. We’ve also got studios like Signal Studios, Half-Brick, Bongfish, and Team17 working on titles through ID@Xbox. That’s just a small sampling of developers listed by Charla, which itself is also a small list of developers in the ID@Xbox program making games right now. Hit up the source link to see more devs.
Either way, it looks like early 2014 is when we’ll start seeing some of the first titles from indie developers on the Xbox One. We can’t wait to see what comes from the program.
Are you a developer interested in joining the program? Check out the ID@Xbox homepage for information on how to sign-up and other FAQs.
Source: Xbox
