Xbox have confirmed that their Xbox Live Indie Games (XLIG) programme is to come to an end.
New subscriptions to the service, along with membership renewals, are no longer being accepted and publishers will now have until September 9 2016 to finish and publish any titles they have currently in development.
XLIG titles will remain on sale until September 2017. This is when the store will close for good and all the money made by developers will be paid out. Players with XLIG titles will still be able to download and play titles they have previously purchased.
During this time, Microsoft have confirmed that they are working to preserve the legacy of the programme, with the help of game creators and conservationists. More details on this initiative will be released in due course.
Now the focus will shift to the company’s ID@Xbox initiative, which currently has over 1,000 developers working on titles for Xbox One and Windows 10.
Words by Megan Roxburgh