Over 500 ID@Xbox games released
More than 1bn hour spent playing these games in 2016, 1,000-plus games still in development
Microsoft has revealed some new milestones achieved by its ID@Xbox program, which is designed to help independent developers release their titles on Xbox and Windows devices.
The firm has announced that more than 500 games have been released through ID@Xbox since it was first announced just over four years ago.
Furthermore, these games have been played by tens of millions of people via either Xbox One or Windows 10, collectively racking up more than one billion hours of play time.
ID@Xbox has also issued dev kits to more than 2,000 developers, with Microsoft re-iterating that there are over 1,000 games still in development through the program.
In a press statement, ID@Xbox director Chris Charla name-dropped several of the more high-profile titles that have been released over the past year, such as the BAFTA-winning Inside by Playdead along with some of the games that have attempted to deliver something more unusual and meaningful such as Sassybot's Fragments of Him and Team17's Beyond Eyes.
"A sincere thanks to all the developers and fans who have helped ID@Xbox reach this milestone," said Charla. "Every time I look at the games that have shipped, and the forthcoming titles coming through the program, I'm reminded that we're really in a golden age for independent games - and the art form of games in general."