ID@Xboxwas announced in 2013 before launching in 2014, meaning Xbox has been working to help bring independent developers onto its platform for over a decade. The gaming landscape has changed a lot since 2013, however. The identity of Xbox isn’t just a singular network of consoles, but an expanded ecosystem of PCs, consoles, and Cloud capabilities (and through the Cloud various streaming devices). Still, alongside the changing tides has beenID@Xboxworking to make all of this easier for independent developers.
Game Rant recently spoke with ID@Xbox director Guy Richards about that changing landscape, the continued growth of ID@Xbox, and areas where ID@Xbox wants to continue growing. Specifically, Richards talked about various areas ID@Xbox is currently working and citedXbox Play Anywhereas a big factor in future plans.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
ID@Xbox and the Changing Landscape
Q: Based on your experience, what do you think are the biggest challenges facing indie developers today?
A:Yeah, so we built the ID@Xbox program in 2013, so the program’s been going on for a long time now. The whole reason we built ID@Xbox was to listen to independent developers, to make things easier for them, and to empower them to do more on Xbox. That way, we’re bringing great games from all around the world for Xbox players to play across all of our devices.
Where we’re really focused today is on working with independent developers to help them reach a multi-platform audience of Xbox, so they can find a new audience across as many screens as possible. When we look at what is part of the Xbox ecosystem today, we’ve got our Xbox consoles, we’ve got PCs, we’ve got Cloud, and through Cloud, we’re streaming games to smart TVs, mobile phones, Amazon Firesticks. This means there’s much more of a bigger and diverse audience forindependent developers to reach on Xboxthan ever before, so one of the big things that we’re working on with developers is how we can make that as easy as possible for them.
When we think about what the experience of playing a game across all these different devices is, we also want to make that experience easy for developers to ship and build games for, but also easier for players as well, right? If you’re moving between playing games on PC and console, does your save game and progression carry with you? Is it easy for you as a player to ensure that you can access that game and all those different devices? That’s where one of our initiatives, Xbox Play Anywhere, comes in.
Xbox Play Anywhere is effectively the cross-progression of games, for making games and the experience of those games, that follows players through the Xbox ecosystem, no matter what device you choose to play on. Our research shows that XPA titles are seeing a 20% hours played increase. We’re really pleased to see that more developers than ever are choosing to make gaming experiences that can be played acrossmultiple devices on Xbox, and they’re seeing the rewards of doing that. Obviously, our players are loving it too because our players are choosing to play more games across more devices.
Q: Can you talk a little about the process of ID@Xbox working with these developers?
A:It started right at the beginning of the journey, right? The ID@Xbox program gives developers access to the Xbox ecosystem, and by access, I mean all the SDK tools and development kits that they need to ship games across all the devices that make up Xbox. Today, we provide education, like resources and educational sessions, so we host a series of different events throughout the year. Some are virtual, some are in-person events that we create, and we go to industry events to talk about Xbox and share information with developers to help them understand the opportunity and the best practices when coming to Xbox. This way, they can get on the platform and reach more players.
We love to get into the weeds on things like pre-order best practices, the best time of year to release your game. TheXbox store last year enabled wish lists, so we’ve talked about how to optimize your marketing so that you’re able to get more players who wishlist your games on Xbox and then work on that conversation rate and see that through into sales. For us, it’s about doing everything we can to make things easier for developers in terms of reaching a multiplatform audience, making money, and running a sustainable business that Xbox is part of as well.
ID@Xbox Isn’t Slowing Down Any Time Soon
Q: And what can you tell me about the growth of ID@Xbox as a program itself?
A:Yeah, today, we’re working with 5000 developers globally that have shipped 6000 games onto Xbox, across all of our devices, and we’re thrilled that the program has now reached over $5 billion in royalties that we’ve paid to independent developers since the program first started.
I think if you were to ask anybody who was here when we started the program if we’d be achieving those numbers in 2025, they wouldn’t believe it. They’re really, really big numbers. I think that is a huge testament to the creativity of independent developers, as well as the willingness of everybody at Xbox to support developers all around the world and find ways to make it easier to bring games into the ecosystem. Of course, it’s also a testament to our fans who have the passion to play all these incredible games coming to all of our devices.
Q: Are there any areas ID@Xbox is looking specifically to grow in terms of developer support?
A:As we think about Xbox being multiplatform, I’m going to talk about Xbox Play Anywhere again because we just love it so much. I love it as a player, right? I’ve bought quite a few copies of Balatro over the last year, but in February, whenBalatro dropped into Game Passand supported Xbox Play Anywhere, I could carry my Balatro progress with me at home on my Xbox Series S and my ROG Ally X, which is what I play when I’m traveling. It was just awesome.
Like, I didn’t think I could play any moreBalatro, but as it turns out, Xbox Play Anywhere makes it easier for me to play more Balatro. That’s a cool thing for me because it was definitely my game of the year. Just to add to that, there are over 1000 titles that support Xbox Play Anywhere, and we’ve got a ton more on the way. That’s something we’re really excited to see, just more and more developers putting players first when they choose how to bring games to our platform.
Our goal is to have as many studios as possible choosing to support Xbox Play Anywhere. AtGDC, we’re taking 11 titles with us, and most of those are supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. I think it’s really important that, when we’re putting a spotlight on these games, we’re starting to see how many developers are choosing Xbox Play Anywhere. That’s really carrying through our communications with players, and it’s really helping us increase the awareness of what Xbox is today. We’ve all seen the “This is an Xbox” campaign, which is awesome with all the different devices and all the partners that make up the Xbox ecosystem. Having more games supporting it, we think, is awesome because it gives players more choice in how they can play, where they can play, and opens up Xbox to more players around the world.
Q: I know ID@Xbox will be at GDC, but are there any other goals or plans for 2025 or beyond that you can discuss?
A: Yeah, we’re going to be at GDC, and I think we’re talking a lot about Xbox Play Anywhere. You asked right at the beginning about trends and biggest challenges for developers, and something that, throughout the years, we know has always been at the top of the mind for creators is discovery. I think that the signals and research we’ve been seeing with Xbox Play Anywhere, increasing hours and revenues for game developers, that’s one way we can help more games get discovered on Xbox. There are other things we are doing as well.
In January, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our Indie Selects program, which is us looking at ways we can find more discovery for independent games on Xbox. We were inspired by what we used to do withXbox Live Summer of Arcade, while also realizing that what worked back then doesn’t necessarily work today, but the Indie Selects program is effectively our way to curate and promote indie games every month on Xbox. Our team votes on what we believe are the best new games coming out, and we put a spotlight on them. We also look at ways we can put a spotlight on great games in the catalog that are maybe a little later in their life cycle. We’ll come up with some creative themes, like games you can play with your cat, themes that are specific to certain genres, games coming out of specific markets, things like that.
We had a campaign earlier in the year spotlighting games from Southeast Asia, which is awesome because we have more games coming from that region than we’ve ever had before. When we look back at the first year of Indie Selects, we provided promotions for over 1000 games that were in the program that were not in Game Pass.
We do that on purpose because games in Game Pass get a huge amount of visibility through the Game Pass lounge,all the Game Pass marketing, and us pushing that content out to Game Pass members. Whereas with Indie Selects, we found ways to promote 1000 more games, which are all awesome, within the last year. We want to make sure any game gets to have that chance to get discovered on Xbox, and we’re going to continue working on that program throughout the year as well.
Last month, we also partnered with IGN on an ID@Xbox Showcase that featured 22 titles, most of them coming to Xbox and Game Pass as well. That was awesome. Another thing that we love to do is use showcases to spotlight independent games. At the end of last year, we had our partner preview event which included a ton of ID@Xbox games as well. We’re really seeing that, when developers partner with us on showcases, we can help them build their audience, not just on Xbox but throughout the industry as well. We love that.
One of the things that was awesome about how our partners on the IGN Showcase worked with us while lining up their inclusion and having the ability to wish list games on Xbox. It really started to bring together all the different tools, tips, and tricks of our Xbox initiatives to maximize these opportunities. The results have been great. We love that developers who announce with us see the benefits on Xbox, and it helps the awareness of their game everywhere else. Because, ultimately, we want our partners to run a successful, sustainable business where Xbox is a huge part of it with you.
Q: As you mentioned, there are tons of games released every day. How do you approach this sheer volume of games?
A:Great question. We believe that more games are the best thing for the platform and the best thing for players. We want every game to have a shot. ID@Xbox focuses on bringing a diverse range of new experiences to the platform. I think, whenever you look at any of the showcases that we’ve run and what we’re doing, you’ll see that come through games of different genres, from developers of different backgrounds, different art styles, and we really want that diverse mix of content to be part of the platform and the experience of players. There’s agame for everyone on Xbox.
Q: You mentioned working in the Southeast Asian markets, but I am curious about Latin America. I know it’s a huge market too, so can you talk a little bit about your work in LATAM?
A:For sure. We go to theBIG game festival in Brazil and Gamescom LATAMevery year, and we have members of our team who specifically focus on that market. They have a huge amount of passion, knowledge, and connections there. We make an effort to go every year and engage with the development community, make sure they understand what the opportunity on Xbox looks like, and talk about how we can support them.
Every time we work with developers, it’s really important to us that we meet developers where they are to understand their goals and the best ways that we can support them. LATAM is a market that we focus a lot on and is definitely a place that we’ll be going back to this year, to help bring more games from the region to the Xbox ecosystem.
Q: Overall, how would you summarize efforts for ID@Xbox last year and going into 2025?
A:ID@Xbox has always put developers first. That means we’ve always been looking for ways to make things easier for developers to come to Xbox. The original 2013 goal of empowering developers to achieve more on Xbox through understanding, listening, and making things easier still carries through today. The world was very different in 2013, and even between then and now,Xbox has grown as an ecosystemthrough different console generations and through initiatives like Xbox Game Pass, supporting PC, Xbox Play Anywhere.
As ID@Xbox grows, Xbox grows with it and so do the opportunities for independent developers to reach bigger, multiplatform audiences through Xbox, which means we’re going to be bringing more exciting games for players to all of our devices. Looking ahead, we’ve got incredible launches like Descenders Next, Expedition 33,Hollow Knight: Silksong, which are all games coming to Xbox Game Pass. We’re really excited about them, and we can’t wait to see the reaction of players when they get to experience these games on all of our devices.
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