Xbox launches Indie Selects program to bring more attention to smaller budget games

techradar.com:

Xbox has announced the launch of an entirely new program, designed to bring attention to indie games on its storefront. As announced in an Xbox Wire post, the program called 'Indie Selects' will change its displayed games to keep a consistent rotation of some of the best indie games available, so you'll never be short of new adventures. 

Indie Selects offers a few channels, the first being a selection of 'Featured Indies' which are recent releases recommended by the ID@Xbox team. However, games featured within this channel will not coincide with any games already available through Xbox Game Pass, as these games already have a platform via the Game Pass hub. 

We’re excited to announce a new way to bring attention to the best indie games on Xbox – our new “Indie Selects” program, which launches today! https://t.co/wjJafMgRjaJanuary 24, 2024

In addition to this featured channel, a weekly theme will be implemented on the page, and a handful of indie games will be selected to match this. A few examples provided through the Xbox Wire post suggest categories like «games to play with your cat» and «games that need a laugh track,» so generally, rather quirky and niche categories have the potential to generate some beautiful picks.

The remaining channels aim to feature 'indie games from around the world, games from new creators and voices, and select games for pre-order' so you're not in short supply of new games. This collection will also change every Wednesday, so there's always a mid-week treat to look forward to.

To add to this, at the end of each month, six games will be selected by the team and given the 'Indie Selects' stamp of approval. As expressed in the blog post, this will mark the six games that the ID@Xbox team is confident you will love, so even if sifting through the categories themselves is slightly overwhelming, you'll always have six games to guide you where to start on your indie endeavors.

If you're looking for more ways to make the most of your Xbox, we've got