Product creation and onboarding

This topic provides Managed Creators with guidance for creating new products and requesting product onboarding.

All new game, demo, bundle, or add-on products must be created in Partner Center.

If you're a new Creator who wants to join a managed program, speak to your Microsoft contacts or register for the ID@Xbox program before you open a Partner Center account. For more information, see New creator onboarding. If you’ve already released games for Xbox consoles or PC, you might already have a Partner Center account.

Choosing the right product type to create

Partner Center offers a variety of product types for use across Microsoft platforms, including Games, Game Demos, and Game Bundles.

• Create a Game for any full game products.
• Create a Game Demo for any beta or demo products.
• Create a Game Bundle for multiple product offerings, like bundles of two or more games, or bundles of a game and related add-ons.
• Create a Product Group as a container for all the products that relate to a specific title.

To get started, see How to create new products.

Creating game add-ons

In Partner Center, add-on products, such as Durables and Consumables, are created from the add-ons menu within a Game product. To get started, select the Add-ons menu option from your Game product's page navigation. Partner Center allows for multiple add-on product types to be created.

• Use Durable with packages or Durable for downloadable content (DLC) for games and to add new "permanent" content in game such as maps, vehicles, or major content expansions.

  • We recommend Durable with packages for any add-on where non-executable content is to be packaged separately from the main game. For example, assets for a vehicle pack that aren't distributed in the main game package.
  • If content is to be unlocked within the game itself via an entitlement check, consider using a Durable (without a package). However, take note that Durable content without a package can't be included on a physical disc.

• Use Store-managed consumable for consumable items such as in-game currency.

For more information, see Add-ons and Choosing the right product type.

Which platforms can my product support?

Games, demos, bundles, and add-ons can be configured for PC, Xbox One consoles, and Xbox Series X|S consoles. If you're releasing on multiple platforms, you'll need to decide how you want to offer your products to players.

Smart Delivery (Xbox consoles only): One product releasing on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

• You'll upload individual packages for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and players will automatically download the correct package for their device.
• Players will own the product on both device families when they make a purchase.
• You'll have one pricing, product availability, and Store listings configuration for both device families.
• You'll share the Xbox services configuration across both Xbox console device families.
• If your product will also be released on PC, Smart Delivery can be used in addition to Xbox Play Anywhere, or Bound or Unbound product configurations.

Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA): One product releasing on both Xbox consoles and PC.

• Console support might be for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, or only for one family of devices.
• You must support cross-progression between the versions of your game for Xbox consoles and Xbox on PC.
• Customers will own the product on PC and Console when they make a purchase. We call this Xbox Unified Entitlement.
• You'll have one pricing, product availability, and Store listings configuration for both platforms.
• You'll share the Xbox services configuration across Xbox consoles and Xbox on PC.

For more information, review the Xbox Play Anywhere Policy in the Xbox Publisher Guide.

Separate Products (Bound): One product for each platform you're releasing on, bound by your Xbox services (including Achievements, Connected Storage, and multiplayer services)

• You can bind an Xbox One product to an Xbox Series X|S product, or an Xbox on PC product to an Xbox console product.
• You might need to support cross-progression between the devices you're supporting. For more information, see XR-130 in the Xbox Requirements.
• Players will only own the product for the platform on which they purchased, and might need to make an additional purchase if they want to play on another platform.
• You'll have independent pricing, product availability, and Store listings configurations for each platform.
• Xbox services will be configured for the primary product and shared with the secondary product.
• For more information, see Game Binding.

Separate Products (Unbound): One product for each platform you're releasing on, with independently configured Xbox services.

• You might need to support cross-progression between the devices you're supporting. For more information, see XR-130 in the Xbox Requirements.
• You'll configure Xbox services independently for each platform.
• Players will only own the product for the platform on which they purchased, and might need to make an additional purchase if they want to play on another platform.
• You'll have independent pricing, product availability, and Store listings configurations for each platform.

Adding platforms to a product in the future

You can add platforms to your product after it's released. To do this, go to the product's setup page, for example, Game Setup for Game products, and select the Sandboxes or Retail option for the platform you're adding.

After you select Retail or Sandboxes in the Game Setup, you'll be able to upload packages for the new platform and publish to the selected destinations. You'll need to Certify your new packages before you can publish them to the RETAIL sandbox.

Keep in mind that a new platform will inherit the existing Pricing and Availability configuration, including markets, schedule, and pricing. Be ready to release your new platform when you publish it to the RETAIL sandbox. You can't remove a platform after publishing it to the RETAIL sandbox.

Reserving a product name

You must reserve unique names for game products when they're created. You can reserve other names at any time after creating the product. This allows you to reserve a codename during development and the final name for the product after it's confirmed. For more details, see Create and reserve your game name.

Completing product setup

After creating a product, you need to complete the product setup to specify some basic configuration options. Specify the device families being supported, the environments that should be accessible (RETAIL or Sandboxes), the Xbox services feature set, and a primary development sandbox. You can also view the Identity Details for your product and access the relevant IDs that are needed for building XVC and MSIXVC packages.

Enabling Xbox services

You might not be able to use the full Xbox services feature set or use certain Partner Center functionality until your Game Concept is approved. After your Concept is approved, send the Store ID (found in the Game Setup page) to your Microsoft contacts. The appropriate permissions and features can then be enabled for your game.

For more information about product onboarding, see Additional product onboarding. For more information about Xbox services, see Configuring Xbox services.

Selecting a primary development sandbox

During product setup, you can select a primary development sandbox. When developing content for Xbox consoles and PC, you can use one of 100 development sandboxes that are unique to your Partner Center account. Two types of sandboxes are available to you.

• Isolated Sandboxes are only available to products that have been specifically allowed access via the Sandboxes UI.
• Shared Sandboxes are available to all products within your Partner Center account.

You can create new sandboxes and specify the type at any time. You can also use multiple sandboxes for any specific product. Consider using isolated sandboxes to limit visibility of products between development teams and use shared sandboxes for broader groups, such as QA, who might require visibility across multiple products.

For more information, see Sandboxes and Branching and sandboxes.

Additional product onboarding

All Game, Game Bundle and Season Pass products require additional onboarding and configuration by your Microsoft account team. After creating one of these products, send the Store ID (found in the Game Setup page) to your Microsoft contacts and be sure to include the following details.

• Which platforms you'll support (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or PC)
• If you plan to support any specific Managed programs including Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, or Xbox Game Preview
• If you plan to support any specific product features such as Smart Delivery, Xbox Play Anywhere, or cross-generation bundles

Game add-on products don't require further onboarding. However, we recommend that you always let your Microsoft contacts know when you're planning to release additional content.

Configuring a revenue SKU

All products must have a revenue SKU (also referred to as a rev SKU) configured. Send a request for rev SKU configuration to your Microsoft contacts after you create any new products in Partner Center. You'll need to provide the name of the product and the Store ID.

Next steps

With your product created, you can complete each module for your product, continue development with the GDK, and begin to integrate Xbox services, including Xbox sign-in, Achievements and connected storage, in your build.

• Get started with the Microsoft Game Development Kit
• Configuring Xbox services
• Product setup
• Configure properties for a game
• Age ratings
• Packages
• Availability - markets, pricing, release schedule
• Store listing
• Add-ons