Microsoft's indie developer initiative supports free-to-play and microtransactions

The Independent Developers @ Xbox program, Microsoft's independent developer initiative, will support free-to-play, microtransactions and premium pricing models, Microsoft's portfolio director for digital games Chris Charla told Joystiq at PAX Prime.

"On Xbox One, games that come through ID@Xbox are no different than any other game," Charla told Joystiq. "If you can do it with an Xbox One game, you can do it with anything that comes through the ID@Xbox program. That's like a fundamental tenet of the program."

Outlined last week, the ID@Xbox program is slated to launch alongside the console later this year. Developers are invited to apply for the program at www.xbox.com/id and those accepted will receive two development kits for free and become registered Xbox One developers.

As part of Microsoft's "longer term" plan, the program will eventually allow independent developers to use retail Xbox One consoles as developer kits and self-publish on the next-gen console sometime post-launch.