Indie Power

As Id@xbox Releases Its One-Thousandth Game, Oxm Celebrates the Revolutionary Program.

- Adam Bryant

From a modest 25 titles to a massive 1,000, the ID@ Xbox program has come a long way since its launch in 2014 and blossomed into a driving force for indie games on consoles. Last October Microsoft marked the occasion with the release of three indie titles: Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption, Mark Of The Ninja Remastered, and Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2, all of which were released on the same day and so share the privilege of becoming that 1,000th game.

The ID@Xbox program has served in some ways as an ambassador to getting developers on the Xbox One, but mostly it’s helped change the way we think about indie games. Over the years we’ve seen the release of some truly amazing titles via the program, such as Cuphead, Inside, Below and Ashen. We wanted to find out how the program has helped developers and sought the company of those who are enrolled in it to talk about their experiences. We also managed to spend some time with the director of ID@ Xbox, Chris Charla, to get a behind-the-scenes view and find out more about the future of the program.

The origins of the ID@Xbox program go back years before the launch of the Xbox One, to the height of the Xbox 360’s popularity. Microsoft pioneered digital distribution of console games with the Xbox 360, through Xbox Live Arcade, and independent developers saw this as a fantastic opportunity to get their games on a console with the same level of awareness that a triple-A game might enjoy with Xbox players.