Xbox Live Creators Program is now open to everyone
Simplified cert process and no concept approval opens up Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs to "the full gamut" of developers
Five months after it was first announced, Microsoft has opened up the Xbox Live Creators Program to everyone.
Until now, the best route to Microsoft's platform for independent developers has been ID@Xbox, but the Creators Program is targeted at a broader audience. In a post on the Xbox blog, ID@Xbox director Chris Charla included "budding studios, hobbyists, makers, teachers and students" among the groups that might make use of the program, which has a, "simplified certification process and no concept approval."
Games submitted through the program will be playable on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. On Xbox One, they will be hosted in a labelled "Creators Collection," due to feedback from "players, parents and developers" that the console remain a curated storefront.
"This gives us all the best of both worlds," Charla said. "A curated store and a fully open marketplace in the Creators Collection."
Creators Program games will have access to Xbox Live's social features, Gamertags, leaderboards and broadcasting through Mixer. They won't be able to support Gamerscore, Achievements or online multiplayer, but Charla said that, "there's a path for games to move from the Creators Program to ID@Xbox during development."
Microsoft announced the Creators Porgram at GDC this year, and Charla later told us that Xbox now has, "the full gamut of developers covered."
"There's really no one out there who wants to make a game that can't do so for Xbox One using Xbox Live," he said. "That enables them to potentially reach an audience of 55m monthly active users of Xbox Live across a huge variety of devices."
