ID@XBOX
Image: Microsoft

Microsoft's ID@Xbox program - which promotes independent games and allows developers to self-publish on Xbox One and Windows 10 - reached a major milestone this week.

During episode 709 of the official Xbox podcast with Larry Hryb and Jeff Rubenstein, ID@Xbox director Chris Charla revealed the program had helped shipped 2,000 games since its inception. What's perhaps even more impressive is the fact Microsoft has now paid out more than $1.5 billion in royalties to indie devs.

"We don't talk about money that often. But we announced it, we had paid out more than a billion and a half dollars in royalties to independent developers over that time. Which to me is just like a great milestone because it just shows how successful developers have been on Xbox. I mean, obviously, video games are a hit driven business. Not every game is a giant success but developers have had life changing amounts to success on the platform."

If you're wondering what the 2,000 game was - it was Swimsanity by Decoy Games. Here's a graphic of this milestone:

ID@XBOX
Image: @ID_Xbox

How many of these 2,000 games do you think you've played so far? Tell us down below.

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[source news.xbox.com]