Xbox LIVE Indie Games

Xbox Live Indie Games (abbreviated as XBLIG, and previously called Xbox Live Community Games abbreviated as XBLCG) are video games created by individual developers or small teams of developers released on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360. The games are developed using Microsoft XNA, and developed by one or more independent developers that are registered with App Hub. Unlike Xbox Live Arcade titles, these are generally only tested within the local creator community, have much lower costs of production, and generally are less expensive to purchase. The service was released to widespread use alongside the New Xbox Experience, and as of November 2014^[update], over 3,300 games have been released on the service, many receiving media attention. All Indie Games currently require the user to be logged in to their Xbox Live account to initiate the start-up of each game. Indie Games are not available in Australia, due to the requirement for all games to be rated by the Australian Classification Board, and the prohibitive expenses involved.

The program did not continue with the release of the Xbox One; the XNA software was discontinued in 2013, and in September 2015, Microsoft emailed developers outlining the end-of-life of the Xbox Live Indie Games program, expected to be complete by the end of 2017.

Initial tools for the development of games on the Xbox 360 platform were bundled in the XNA Game Studio Express 1.0, released in December 2006, as a means of introducing newer programmers to the steps in game programming. Additional releases of the XNA Game Studio added further features with the core software libraries, but the created games were limited to the developer's own console unit and could not be shared with others. During the Game Developers Conference in February 2008, Microsoft announced that it would be bringing the Xbox Live Community Games service to Marketplace, allowing these games to be shared with others. According to Microsoft's David Edery, portfolio planner for Xbox Live Arcade's, the company envisioned the Community Games as a way for programmers to bring niche experimental games to wider attention without justifying the cost of a full Arcade title with only a limited audience, while still potentially earning some money for the effort. Edery also cited the Community Games as a potential differentiator from either of the PlayStation Store and WiiWare services.

...
Wikipedia