Following the Initial announcement at GDC 2017, Xbox Team has made the Live Creators Program. This program allows small game publishers to publish the games without meeting the full requirement of Xbox Live, and strict rules of ID@Xbox. The program was launched softly with Xbox Insiders and is now available to everyone.
The primary reason why Microsoft is doing this is to let new developers get on board the Windows Platform, and let them be as creative as possible. This, of course, adds up the risk on the quality, but I guess Microsoft is ready to put the bait, and hope to get some impressive games on the platform. Once they are up and ready for next level, the standard program is available.
What are the limitations, and features of the Live Creators Program
- Limited access to Xbox Live API. For example, there is no achievement integration available.
- Access to Clubs, Promotions, Game Hubs are available.
- Microsoft will be conducting workshops in selected cities around the world to help Programmers.
- The gamers will have access to the Creators Program without a dedicated dev kit and will have to use using only retail hardware.
- Currently, supported engines include Construct 2, MonoGame, Unity, and Xenko. It is also possible to use tools like Visual Studio to write in C# and C++.
Here are the difference between the ID@XBOX and Live Creators Program
