Greetings from GDC 2024 – every year we use this show as an opportunity to meet tons of developers and as a convenient check-in to talk about what’s going on at ID@Xbox.
2024 got off to a fast start for gamers this year – Xbox had its biggest month ever on consoles last January in terms of playtime (including ID@Xbox program member Pocket Pair, whose Xbox Game Preview title, Palworldhas more than 10,000,000 players on Xbox so far!).
With more than 3,500 titles in active development for Xbox and Windows from independent developers in more than 100 countries through the ID@Xbox program, we’re always working to help independent developers reach more gamers and empower gamers to find the best new games. Our new open pitch portal and our Indie Selects program are two ways we’ve opened up new opportunities for developers and players alike.
Last year we mentioned that we would be launching an open pitch portal for members of the ID@Xbox program to pitch their games to Game Pass and our Developer Acceleration Program. I’m pleased to say that since the portal launched in August, hundreds of studios have used the portal to submit games for consideration.
While we don’t talk publicly about our deals before they’re announced, we can say that opening up this process more transparently and publicly was a huge step forward in ensuring that curators at Xbox get access to Game Pass and other programs the biggest Selection of games to consider so we can continue to offer players the best selection of games in the world. While we’re incredibly excited to meet old and new friends from development studios at the Game Developer’s Conference this week, traveling to San Francisco (or anywhere) to meet Xbox employees in person to discuss a game shouldn’t be a requirement to publish Consider a deal – and I’m happy to say that’s no longer the case.
Secondly, this January, after tremendous work from our amazing marketing and store teams, we launched the Indie Selects section of the Xbox Store! This section of the store hearkens back to the old days of Xbox Live Arcade with hand-picked collections of great titles from independent developers available on Xbox. In February we began awarding six titles per month with an Indie Selects award/award as well.
While I’m personally not the biggest fan of awards – we all have our own criteria for what makes a great game – I always feel a little uncomfortable picking winners in any category, especially when there are so many great games out there. However, I also live games. One of our discovery challenges is to help people who love games but don’t immerse themselves in gaming news on a daily (or hourly!) basis. For them, the Indie Selects award is a great way to quickly find games recommended by a group of curators and employees at Xbox who vote on them each month. (I can also share that Phil Spencer has volunteered to serve on the voting committee!) These are all great games, but of course there are a lot of great games that don’t have the Indie Selects label either. This includes most games this launch with Xbox Game Pass. The marketing efforts we’ve launched with the Indie Selects program are primarily focused on games not included in Game Pass.
Game Pass already offers an amazing discovery mechanism (if you see a game you think you might like… download it!), and our Indie Selects efforts are designed to ensure people enjoy the amazing See the breadth and depth of the entire catalog on Xbox, not just Game Pass.
And this depth and breadth continues to grow. We now have 24/7 “business hours” coverage for developers around the world, and the team’s work is paying off: more than 100 titles in development for Xbox consoles via the ID@Xbox program from Africa, India and Southeast Asia. Of course, we still have a lot of work to do to grow and help the developer base in these areas, as well as other developers who are underrepresented across Xbox, no matter where they are. We want Xbox to be a place where everyone feels comfortable playing and developing.
Of course, that doesn’t mean every game will be for everyone, and that’s where some of our most challenging and exciting work in the coming months and years will be to improve discovery so we can help players find their next favorite games, and this is how we can help developers of great games find their audience anywhere in the world. Games are still a hits-driven business, but we believe in a future where every game has a reasonable chance of making a critical and commercial impact in front of its intended audience. This is critical to our dual vision of offering players the broadest and deepest choice of games and enabling developers to create a sustainable future that will create and sustain us for years to come. And based on what we expected, we’re incredibly optimistic about the future of games and developers on Xbox.
