Xbox Live Indie Games Program Is Shutting Down

Xbox Live Indie Games Program Is Shutting Down

Microsoft has sent an email to all developers registered in the Xbox Live Indie program, notifying them that the service will be completely shut down by the end of 2017.

The Xbox Live Indie program started in 2006 as a way for indie developers to develop and publish games on Xbox 360 and PC without a publisher or dedicated studio. At the core of the program was the XNA studio, a set of development tools and libraries which provided a unified platform for developing Xbox 360 and PC games. XNA was discontinued in 2013 and the Xbox Live Indie program wasn't supported by Xbox One.

One year from now, on September 9th, 2016, Xbox Live Indie will no longer accept any new game submissions. After that, the program's developers will get to enjoy their project for another year before the program is closed forever before the end of 2017.

Indie developers who wish to develop games for Xbox One can participate in Microsoft's ID@Xbox program. Unlike Xbox Live Indie program however, ID@Xbox developers are vetted by Microsoft and the program is meant for dedicated game developers.