When gaming was a nascent medium, game development was open to everyone- anyone could make a game, as long as they had a computer, and some spare time. There were no restrictions on game creation of any kind. That started to change in the 1980s, as game consoles started to take a hold- but with the new Xbox Live Creators Program, Microsoft is hoping to revert to that era of open game creation and publishing.

“Make no mistake, the Xbox One is now an open platform for publishing,” says Chris Charla, director of Microsoft’s ID@Xbox independent developer outreach program. “I think it’s gonna be rad.”

The Xbox Live Creators Program allows anyone to publish any game on Xbox One and Windows 10 simultaneously via UWP- there is no restriction on any game that is being published (though Microsoft reserves the right to take down objectionable content), and there are no fees beyond a one time $20 fee that creators have to pay upfront. Your game is automatically put up on the Xbox and Windows 10 storefronts.

The caveats? The games get put in their own ‘Creators’ section of the store, and games published under this program can’t use Xbox Live for multiplayer.

Still, for aspiring game developers, this is a great move- and for Microsoft, who have consistently fond themselves lagging behind PlayStation in terms of the number of games they have available, this is a great way to make up for that difference, too.

[via Business Insider]