This article outlines a complete set of guidelines in order for your experience to be well-received on the Xbox platform.
Launch Guidelines
The launch guidelines below should be used as a checklist to ensure your experience has a smooth release on the Xbox platform, and to minimize the risk of your experience being removed from Xbox.
| No blood / gore | |
| No intense violence | |
| No profanity / offensive language | |
| No gambling of any kind (or encouragement thereof) | |
| No alcohol / tobacco / drug reference or usage | |
| No in-experience messaging (text chat) |
Featured Experience Guidelines
Getting your experience featured is one of the best ways to get noticed and increase your player base. Following these guidelines is required for your experience to be featured on Xbox.
Content
| No alcohol / tobacco / drug references or usage | |
| No nudity / sexual / provocative references | |
| No blood / gore | |
| No profanity / offensive language | |
| No discrimination (or encouragement thereof) | |
| No gambling of any kind (or encouragement thereof) | |
| No excessive frights or realistic depictions of fear | |
| No content that is likely to offend a group of users (religions / cultures / races / communities of people) | |
| No references to acts of any the above (references to acts of violence, acts of discrimination, etc.) | |
| No unlicensed copy-written material (images, audio, text or speech without explicit permission from owner) |
Audio
| Explicit and licensed permission to use all in-experience music (provide evidence with link to music library) | |
| Explicit and licensed permission to use all in-experience sound effects (provide evidence with link to sound effect library) | |
| Sound effects and music do not instill feelings of intense fear in young children | |
| Sound effects and music are not crude enough to be inappropriate for young children |
Input
| Controls remain responsive unless experience is loading | |
| Loading states are clearly communicated to the player | |
| Controls are explained within the experience, not in the experience's description (descriptions on Xbox are clipped) | |
| Controls are explained in Xbox-specific terminology |
Core Loop
| Runtime loop only ends at player's request or when experience reaches an intended fail state | |
| Runtime loop never halts with no opportunity to progress |
Configuration
| Experience is "Active" | |
| Experience does not limit access to "Friends Only" | |
| Experience is not "Paid Access" | |
| Experience does not use platform-specific data stores | |
| Experience does not have an Xbox-specific version (a separate version of the same experience available on other platforms) |
Title
| No messaging regarding "Alpha/Beta/Testing" status | |
| Version number (if present) is greater than or equal to 1.0 |
Description
| First paragraph is stand-alone and adequately summarizes the experience | |
| No instructional or tutorial content | |
| No requests for favorites or thumbs up | |
| No links |
Icon
| 512×512 pixels in size | |
| Clear from 10 feet away on an HDTV |
Thumbnails
| Experience has at least 3 thumbnails | |
| Every thumbnail is 768×432 pixels in size | |
| Every thumbnail is clear from 10 feet away on an HDTV |
Badges
| Majority of badge descriptions clearly describe how they are obtained |
Interface
| Clear from 10 feet away on an HDTV | |
| Only references Xbox One controls (no references to keyboard, mouse, touch) | |
| Only one interactive menu visible at any given time | |
| Menus and screens do not generally overlap | |
| Menus communicate contents and button actions clearly, without unnecessary duplication | |
| Controller B button is almost always used to close a menu | |
| Menus do not have multiple close buttons | |
| Controller dot isn't present unless necessitated by design |
Purchasing
| Displayed purchase prices are legible and correct | |
| Purchasing prices are not misleading and don't allow players to make obvious purchasing mistakes | |
| Purchased items operate as advertised with their function and control fully explained | |
| Purchases are granted / activated / usable immediately after purchase |
Best Practices
| Practice | Reason to Follow |
|---|---|
| No symbols in experience title | Symbols can cause confusion for players and detract from the meaning of your experience title |
| Experience has either 0 or 4+ badges | The "Badges" section is hidden on the experience details screen if you have less than 4 badges |