Xbox is taking steps to give more indie games a high degree of visibility on the Microsoft Store, offering up a wider selection of games for players and giving independent developers a better chance of reaching out to them. The Xbox brand has been working for years to build a strong relationship with the indie dev community, and this change to its digital storefront is meant to ensure fairer practices of showing off games to potential customers.
Microsoft’s commitment to independent developers took off in a big way prior to the release of the Xbox One in 2014. While promoting that console, Xbox announced that it would be launching and sponsoring an independent creator program, providing tools, development kits, and information to game developers who wanted to be involved in the console market. That culminated in the ID@Xbox program, which allows indie devs to self-publish games built for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and which has seen thousands of games make their way to the console market.
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Microsoft Store Makes Finding New Games Easier
Xbox is now making changes to the Microsoft Store that should help developers, and particularly those on the indie scene, to reach out to more players. A new message to fans and developers alike, which comes at the tail end of the GDC Festival of Gaming, announces that upcoming policy changes will soon be enacted in regards the digital store’s algorithm, and particularly, the New Releases section. One immediate change, which is being made in response to complaints by developers, is that publishers won’t be able to manipulate the system into showing off their game more frequently by posting the same bundle of games multiple times across the storefront. “Our developer code of conduct is clear: folks can’t try to crowd out other games, and it’s important to us that we host a store where every game is treated fairly!” the official message states.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
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This is only the first change that Xbox has planned for changes to the store’s algorithmic policies. It states that more changes will be coming soon, though there is no hint as to what they will entail. The message seems to particularly target indie developers, referencing them several times, and praising the indie dev community for their ingenuity. Indie games in 2025 saw the generation of hundreds of millions of dollars in sales on the Microsoft Store, and Xbox leadership credits that financial success to the “fantastic devs who make the games.”
Even with the broadening horizons of Xbox’s sphere of influence, including the expansion of Cloud-based play and stronger connectivity between console and PC gaming, Microsoft still seems to have big plans for the ID@Xbox program. In an interview with GameRant from about a year ago, program director Guy Richards expressed a desire to help independent developers reach audiences across a variety of platforms, which is a trend that Xbox itself has been following in recent years. Xbox has also increased the number of informational sessions it offers to developers in the independent market, including those in its Developer Acceleration program. As of early 2025, Xbox had paid out more than $5 billion in royalties to independent developers that have published games through the ID@Xbox program, making it a lucrative incentive for both sides.
In addition to Xbox promoting smaller developers through these informational and development assistance programs, Xbox Game Pass has featured hundreds of indie games that have been picked up through the ID@Xbox program, providing those that are chosen with a direct link to an estimated 35 to 37 million players around the world. Indie hits on Xbox Game Pass in recent years include Kenny Sun’s Ball x Pit, LocalThunk’s Balatro, and Aggro Crab’s Another Crab’s Treasure, and while the new message from Xbox notes that not every indie game will see that level of success, the platform provides a lot of opportunity for indie devs to reach gamers.
Source: XboxWire
