Indie devs enrolled in the Xbox One’s ID@Xbox indie development program are in luck. Unity Technologies has recently announced that it will be supplying its Unity Xbox One deployment add-on for free to developers.
While it was originally decided to provide the kit only to Microsoft Studios developers, now ID@Xbox developers will have a chance to take advantage of this offer. The only catch is that you must have an existing Unity license. Those who are part of Microsoft’s program will also receive Unity Pro Tools for Xbox One.
The ID@Xbox program was Microsoft’s peace offering to the indie development community after plans for abolishing self-publishing on the Xbox One didn’t pan out. It allows small development teams and even singular individuals to release games on Xbox One, and Microsoft has promised access to features such as Kinect, SmartGlass and much more. The added ability to turn Xbox One retail units into dev kits has only spurred efforts more.
Games developed through the ID@Xbox program will be revealed in early 2014.