Certify a game

This article describes how to submit a game for certification. During certification, your game's packages are tested and the product configuration is validated. Before you can publish to the RETAIL (production) sandbox, the Store listings, Pricing and availability and Packages pages must be certified. If you make updates to these pages after certifying them, follow these steps to submit them for certification again.

Important

This article describes features that require enrollment as an XBOX creator. To get started, register for ID@XBOX. If you're already enrolled but aren't able to use the described features, speak to your XBOX contacts.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Submit your game for certification

Certification review is triggered automatically when you publish to the RETAIL sandbox. For more information, see Publish a game to the RETAIL sandbox.

If your game fails certification, you receive a certification report. This report can be viewed by selecting View report on the Game overview page after the certification process is complete. Make changes to fix each issue included in your report, then publish your game to the RETAIL sandbox again to resubmit for review.

If you pass certification, the publishing workflow continues and your game is published to the Microsoft Store.

Complete the Certification questionnaire

Before submitting the product for Certification, ensure that you complete the Certification questionnaire. The questionnaire provides information about your product to the test team.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Certification from the left navigation pane.
  5. Answer the questions in the multiple-choice questionnaire and provide accurate information about your game.
  6. Select Save to save your answers.
  7. If necessary, select Files from the left navigation pane and upload any supporting files that the test team might need.

Certify Packages

The XBOX Certification team tests packages to verify compliance with the Policies and XBOX Requirements (XRs). For information about the XBOX certification process, see Certification step-by-step guide.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Packages from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where your packages requiring certification are uploaded.
  6. Confirm that the Submission Validator xml log file is uploaded with your package. If the log file contains any errors or warnings, verify that these issues are expected and if necessary, have an approved exception. If you think you require an exception, speak to your XBOX contacts.
  7. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  8. On the Certify page, the Packages, Age Ratings, and Properties modules are included automatically.
  9. Select a source sandbox for the XBOX services for your product. You should select the source that has the correct configuration that is intended to be tested with your package.
  10. If you're submitting for Optional Certification, select Optional certification (feedback only). If you're submitting for Final Certification, leave this box unchecked.
  11. If you're submitting for Final Certification and the package is intended for distribution on physical discs, select Intended for discs.
  12. Enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  13. Select Submit to Certification.
  14. The XBOX Certification team receives your package for review. The amount of time it takes to test the package varies depending on the type of submission and the platform being tested. For more information, see Submit for Certification.

After testing is complete, you get certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Game overview page, which can be selected from the left navigation pane. If you pass Certification, you see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Packages page that you submitted for Certification.

Certify Store listings

The Store Certification and XBOX Artwork Certification teams reviewed your Store listings.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Store listings from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where the Store listings requiring certification are prepared.
  6. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  7. On the Certify page, the Store listings, Age Ratings, and Properties modules are included automatically.
  8. Enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  9. Select Submit to Certification.
  10. The certification teams receive your Store listings for review. It generally takes around one business day to review your Store listings.

After testing is complete, you get certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Store listings page. If you pass certification, you see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Store listings page that you submitted for certification.

Certify Pricing and availability

The XBOX Store team reviews your pricing.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Pricing and availability from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where the pricing requiring certification is prepared.
  6. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  7. On the Certify page, enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  8. Select Submit to Certification.
  9. The certification team receives your pricing for review. It generally takes around five business days to review your pricing.

After testing is complete, you'll get certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Pricing and availability page. If you pass certification, you see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Pricing and availability page that you submitted for certification.

Next steps

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