At the start of this generation, Microsoft was criticized by indie developers for the company's policy towards games that lacked a big-name publisher. Finding a publisher is often quite difficult, and not always desirable, as business considerations can stifle creativity. Making it as easy as possible for independent development is not only in the best interest of smaller companies, but also Microsoft, because this means that more games make their way over to the platform.
This week, Microsoft announced a major milestone pointing to the success of the ID@Xbox program.
Since its inception, we know that the ID@Xbox program has been quite popular but just how much has it done for smaller studios? Well, we just got the answer. Since it began, ID@Xbox has generated more than $500 million in sales. This is an extraordinary feat and proves that the model works.
Games from independent developers in the ID@Xbox program have generated more than $500,000,000 in sales since the program launched.Games from independent developers in the ID@Xbox program have generated more than $500,000,000 in sales since the program launched.— ID@Xbox (@ID_Xbox) October 20, 2017October 20, 2017
The ID@Xbox program has expanded in recent months to make it even easier for anyone to publish games. There's a Creators Collection on the Xbox Store which has numerous titles but they're added there in an un-curated fashion. Hopefully, this will lead to even more people brining their new games to the console, with the possibility of the more popular games "graduating" to ID@Xbox.
Games like Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime and Shovel Knight are just some examples of the of stellar titles which have come to Xbox One due to ID@Xbox. If you haven't checked out some of these smaller titles, be sure to do so because they're a nice change of pace from those heavy-hitters each month.
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