Dependable independents

After 3,000 games and ten years, ID@Xbox thunders on. But what guides its journey?

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Microsoft’s plan to open up its console ecosystem to a wider pool of game developers emerged just two years after the original Xbox launched. And it began with a disc in the post. When the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) service launched in 2004, interested players had to request the software from Microsoft. That approach would blossom considerably further, of course, in the Xbox 360 era – something with which Chris Charla was all too familiar. At the time, he was working as a producer at Backbone Entertainment, bringing arcade classics such as Joust, Defender and Robotron: 2084 to XBLA. He soon found himself on the other side of the table, however, joining Microsoft as XBLA portfolio director in 2010, where he quickly realised the company could be doing more to spotlight the work of smaller developers.

As a result, in 2013, ID@Xbox was born with Charla at the reins as programme director. As the service marks its tenth anniversary, it has been part of the launch of over 3,000 games, and paid out $4bn to independent developers. Now, in advance of his keynote at this summer’s Develop Conference in Brighton, Charla tells us how ID@Xbox has evolved, and where it might be headed next.

What motivated the move from XBLA to ID@Xbox a decade ago?