In an effort to get indie developers to make Wii U games, Nintendo offered free development tools, like a Unity license, in exchange for games. Now Microsoft’s indie program – ID@Xbox – is offering the identical deal.
Unity CEO David Helgason announced today that Microsoft has reached an agreement with the indie friendly engine to provide free Unity licenses to all members of its ID@Xbox program. In other words, indie developers who join Microsoft’s indie development program gets a free Unity license to exploit in developing indie titles for the Xbox One.
Here’s the relevant portion of the announcement:
Unity and Microsoft will now be working together to bring the Xbox One deployment add-directly to all developers registered with the ID@Xbox program without charge to the developers. That is huge news and implies that everyone that’s a part of that program, not only partners to Microsoft Games Studios, shall be capable of benefit from Unity to create awesome gaming experiences for the Xbox One. On top of this, a unique Xbox One version of the Unity Pro tools also are being made available for these same developers for free of charge.
The Xbox One is a convincing platform and we’re building powerful tools to exploit all the features that make it so special just like the Kinect and SmartGlass. Production is definitely underway and is progressing faster than originally anticipated! Very early testing phases will begin soon with a broader beta program in 2014.
It needs to be noted that the free Unity license will are available in two forms. In the event you have already got a Unity license for one more platform, like Android, then the Xbox One license may be unlocked to your account upon your admission into the ID@Xbox program. If this can be your first Unity license, you may be given an Xbox One-only license, and all other licenses for other platforms can be sold at a relatively not pricey like usual.
It’s actually the latter license agreement that’s actually the foremost exciting for developers. Unity is a brilliant cross platform engine, but developers do need to buy licenses for platform-specific tools. By releasing on Xbox One first, the developers may earn the cash essential to purchase the alternative licenses and port their titles to other platforms, like iOS, Android and other home consoles.
The ID@Xbox self-publishing program on Xbox One is absolutely not yet live, but you are able to apply to be admitted into this system instantly. Microsoft is currently giving preferential treatment to developers who’ve shipped a game, but it surely will open this system to anybody who has an Xbox One sooner or later. At that time, the free Unity license will turn out to be useful for the thousands, if not millions, of gamers who would like to dip their toe within the waters of game development.
[Image: Xbox]