Microsoft Pays Out $5 Billions to Indie Developers Within ID@Xbox Program

Another Crab’s Treasure, Animal Well, Neva. Source: Aggro Crab, Shared Memory, Nomada Studio

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By Mik Dzisko

March 20, 2025

Key points

Since 2013, Microsoft’s ID@Xbox has paid over $5 billion to indie developers.
The initiative has over a thousand games launched in 2024 alone, including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, Balatro and Phasmophobia.
ID@Xbox now includes over 5,000 developers globally and has seen more than 6,000 games shipped since its launch.

Five billion dollars have been paid to indie developers from all over the world within Microsoft’s ID@Xbox (Independent Developers @ Xbox) program since its inception on Aug. 20, 2013, according to its director, Guy Richards.

The initiative, which supports indie developers by providing tools and resources and allowing them to self-publish titles for Windows and the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, has over a thousand games launched in 2024 alone, including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, Balatro and Phasmophobia. The program, which now includes over 5,000 developers globally, has seen more than 6,000 games shipped since its launch.

Registered developers in the program receive two development kits free of charge, along with access to all necessary technical documentation. Also, there are no fees charged to update any game submitted through the program. Developers in the program also receive access to the Unity engine as well as an optional subscription to Unreal Engine 4.

It is worth mentioning that the ID@Xbox program is enforcing a launch date parity policy, which means that developers can only release their titles on Xbox One if they haven’t been released on other consoles first.

As of time of writing 192 games forms the ID@Xbox program are available via Xbox GamePass: