Just a friendly reminder, anyone can turn their xbox into a dev box[0] and create homebrew software! You do not need an xbox live account to build services using the xbox services api[1].
Just a word of warning about this. You need to reboot into a crippled slow sandbox to do this. You’ll need to boot back into retail mode to play games. Getting a developer account lets you test your app in retail mode
Just a friendly reminder that UWP is deprecated as Windows programming model, C++/WinRT is stuck in C++17, in maintenance mode only taking bug fixes, and XBox has moved into Game Development Kit as official replacement for anyone that eventually would like to convert their indie efforts into a commercial game.
> Using Win32 + GDK is the primary, supported app model to build games for Xbox console, Xbox Game Pass (both Xbox and PC), and Xbox Game Streaming*
> Key Feature is that only Win32 + GDK fully supports all Microsoft Gameplay Services (Xbox Live identity, multiplayer, chat, leaderboards, achievements, commerce, etc.), and is required for Xbox Game Pass(1) on both console and PC
> For developers building Win32 games on PC today, Win32 + GDK builds on the Win32 C/C++ programming models to unify development across Xbox consoles and Windows PCs with the Microsoft Game Development Kit
> UWP apps and games are community-supported only; partners inside Xbox managed programs (Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Streaming) should use Microsoft Win32 + GDK.
There’s not much. For a bit you could get some people to gift you an emulator for retail mode via a testing link. But that was cracked down on. Xbox is pretty locked down
[0] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/xbox-apps/devk...
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/gdk/_content/gc/liv...