Saturday, October 14, 2017
By: Matthew Doucette
Originally announced in 2015, then planned for October 7th, 2017, Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) has finally closed officially on October 7th, 2017. This means the only game we have left available to purchase is Score Rush Extended on PS4, all other are on shut down platforms or were pulled offline voluntarily. Sad day, in a sense, due to all our connections to XBLIG which I will not remention here.
Here is the officail notice:
Re: XBLIG Sunsetting - additional updates
from: XBLIG Support
to: Xona Games
Hello Xona Games,
Xbox Live Indie Games Sunsetting
After an incredible run that saw many great developers get their start with the program, Microsoft will be sunsetting Xbox Live Indie Games on Xbox 360 at the end of September. At that time, we will be removing all games from the Xbox 360 store, and making a final payout to all developers. This is a bittersweet moment for those of us at ID@Xbox. While XBLIG was a separate program, we really enjoyed playing those games, and many XBLIG devs went on to work with us in ID@Xbox.
First things first: Anyone who own an XBLIG game can continue to play and redownload the game.
The mechanics of the shutdown: Our initial plan was to begin delisting content on September 28th. However, we have pushed that date to October 7th, so everyone can have a little more time to get games before the store closes. The store will start to close on October 7th, but due to the way our servers operate, some games may still be available for a day or two. Once the games are no longer available, you will still be able to redownload any games you already own.
What about the distant future? When we first announced sunsetting of XBLIG, we mentioned that we were working internally to see how these games could be archived for posterity, so that researchers and scholars could be playing them far in the future. We don't have anything to announce here about that today, but ensuring these games take their rightful place in history is important to us and we are continuing to do research here.
Although we'll miss XBLIG, we're super excited that its spirit lives on in the Xbox Live Creators Program. This fully open program enables anyone with access to a PC to create games for Windows 10 and Xbox One using retail hardware and provides access to the full gamut of social Xbox Live features, such as identity and presence, leaderboards, Clubs, and more. This is a great option for anyone getting started with game development and we're already seeing some really interesting titles ship via XBLCP! You can learn more here: https://www.xbox.com/en-us/developers/creators-program.
Thank you for your support of XBLIG and we're excited to continue to foster and support the amazing independent spirit of developers on Xbox One via through ID@Xbox and the Xbox Live Creators Program! You can read the original announcement here.
Thank you,
XBLIG Support, xblig@microsoft.com
Fairwell, XBLIG.
That is all.
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.