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If you took a look at the title and wondered what "ID@Xbox" was, it's basically Xbox One's indie developer program. Anyone, with reasonable credibility I assume, can try and apply for an Xbox One dev kit. At this time, Microsoft has made public a handful of studios already accepted into the program with more on the way. Some of the studios listed include Double Fine, Crytek (what?), Ninja Bee, Team 17, and more. A larger list can be found here and hopefully we'll see the list grow larger as more and more teams get accepted into the program.

Originally, Microsoft was very adamant towards allowing any self-published video game studio to make games for its new console. That comes to no surprise really since self-publishing was apparently a difficult thing to do during the Xbox 360 era but that would be up to someone with experience on that matter to further inform me. However, with the current changes as well as this program, Microsoft can secure the indie development console market, or at least some of it, but they would have to do this whole process correctly. It's still to early to know if they're on the right track but they already have a handful of big indie teams under their belt which is good for them.

According to people who have applied to both Sony and Microsoft's program, Sony was a little quicker with the response but a good chunk, if not most, indie studios had to purchase their own hardware. Right now, you cannot use your own Xbox One hardware as a dev kit despite the unit having the ability to do so (which Microsoft can overturn whenever they feel fit) so you must make it into the program, or at least somehow procure an XBO dev kit from somewhere, if you want in on Xbone development. The brightside is should you get into ID@Xbox, the dev kit would be provided at no cost to you which is fortunate I suppose. If you're interested, you can try and apply here.

The current issue going on is a good chunk of the people who got into the program weren't listed on Xbox' official announcement which is somewhat frustatrting. Indie developers need all the spotlight they can get right? If you ever happen to see this article and you got in to the program, comment below and you'll make our list!

I would advise any developer to try and apply. It's easy and takes little time. Also, if you want to know what's going on with those who got accepted into the program, a good bit of them forged a facebook page for just about anyone to view.

 

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