[email protected] program changed?

gamedeveloper.com:

Ever since its reveal back in 2013, the [email protected] program has helped independent developers launch more than 2,000 games on the platform. The process begins on the official site, where studios can submit an application to be eligible for publishing on Xbox platforms. Once approved, the program facilitates access to SDKs, development documentation, and dev kits, as well as guidance throughout publishing and certification. Four years after the program started, Xbox Game Pass showed up as a subscription service and some of these thousands of [email protected] games have been included.

Game Pass has grown exponentially during this time, reaching 25 million subscribers by the beginning of 2021. Game Developer sat down to talk to Chris Charla, general manager of content curation and programs at Xbox, alongside developers from Bloober Team and Supergiant Games, about how the [email protected] program evolved since its conception, diving into the benefit and support that the wider platform gives to independent developers through the initiative.

From the ground up, [email protected] wanted to make sure that independent developers are part of every program that is available at Microsoft. This includes promotion in the console’s main dashboard or the store, as well as being featured in Xbox and Twitch showcases.

A year after the launch of Game Pass, Charla and the rest of the team started talking to partners, beginning with Sea of Thieves developer Rare and then following with third party studios from the [email protected] program, about going into Game Pass the first day that they’re available to Xbox.

“Internally we call it 'day and date'” says Charla. The initial model set good predictions in terms of what the partners would