Configure XBOX services for a game

Important

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

This article describes how to configure the XBOX settings and XBOX services gameplay settings for your game.

Prerequisites

Configure XBOX services - XBOX settings

XBOX settings lets you configure basic information about your game for the XBOX network.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. Select the Apps and games workspace from the Home page. The Apps and games | Overview page appears.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game from the list or use Search to find and select your game.
  4. Select XBOX settings from the left navigation pane.

Configure Title Names

Title names are the localized strings displayed to users in various XBOX services such as Achievements, Game Invites and Presence.

  1. Navigate to XBOX settings.
  2. In the Title Names section, en-US is added by default. Check that the string in the Name column is accurate.
  3. To add localized title names, select Add localized title.
  4. In the Locale column, add the language code, for example en for English.
  5. In the Name column, enter the localized title name.
  6. If you change your mind, you can delete a localized title name by selecting the Delete option for any locale. You can't delete the default en-US string.
  7. Select Save to save your configuration for this section.

Configure Data Platform Setting

  1. Navigate to XBOX settings.
  2. Scroll to the Data Platform Setting section.
  3. In the Stats configuration system section, select Event-Based Stats or Title-Managed Stats. For more information, see Event-based vs title-managed Stats.
  4. In the Achievements configuration system section, select Event-based Achievements or Title-managed Achievements. For more information, see Event-based vs title-managed Achievements.
  5. In the Publish Achievements to Retail? section, select Yes I will be publishing Achievements.
  6. Select Save to save your configuration for this section.

Configure Device families

The Devices families configuration enables you to limit the types of device on which your product can access XBOX services. By default, all device families are enabled. You can leave this configuration unchanged. If you want to limit the types of devices, follow these steps.

  1. Navigate to XBOX settings.
  2. Scroll to the Device families section.
  3. Select the checkbox in the Allowed column for each Platform your game supports.
  4. Select Save to save your configuration for this section.

Configure Embargo date

Embargo provides protections to help limit the product's social data exposure in the RETAIL sandbox via service calls or in the XBOX UI. Only the product or its custom access policies are able to make calls to get the embargoed data. Users playing a product during the embargo period don't show any content related to the product that is covered by Embargo until the specified embargo date and time is reached. For more information about the content that is covered by Embargo, see Configuring XBOX services in Partner Center.

  1. Navigate to XBOX settings.
  2. Scroll to the Embargo date section.
  3. Select Set embargo date and enter a date and time (UTC) for the embargo to end.
  4. If you want to allow multiplayer invites during the embargo period, select Allow Multiplayer Invites in Embargo.
  5. Select Save to save your configuration for this section.

Configure XBOX services - Gameplay settings

In XBOX services - Gameplay settings, you configure various elements of your game's XBOX services including Achievements, Rich Presence, and Multiplayer services. To configure your XBOX services - Gameplay settings, follow these steps.

  1. Select the Apps and games workspace from the Home page. The Apps and games | Overview page appears.
  2. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game from the list or use Search to find and select your game.
  3. Select Gameplay settings from the left navigation pane.
  4. Complete each section of your Gameplay settings, for example Achievements, Rich Presence, and Multiplayer.
  5. When you're ready to test your changes, Publish your XBOX services - Gameplay settings to your development sandbox.

For full information about configuring XBOX services - Gameplay settings, see XBOX services overview.

Publish XBOX services

After you configure your XBOX services, you must publish them for your changes to take effect. XBOX services are published to each sandbox individually. For example, if you're developing your game in ABCDEF.1, publish your XBOX services to ABCDEF.1 each time you make a change to your XBOX services - Gameplay settings or XBOX services - Settings. To publish your XBOX services, follow these steps.

  1. Select the Apps and games workspace from the Home page. The Apps and games | Overview page appears.
  2. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game from the list or use Search to find and select your game.
  3. Select Gameplay settings from the left navigation pane.
  4. Select Publish from the top navigation pane. The Publish gameplay settings window appears.
  5. Select a source and destination sandbox.
    • The source is the sandbox where you configured your gameplay settings changes.
    • The destination is the sandbox where you want your changes published.
  6. Select Publish. The page will display a confirmation message after your changes are published.

Important

After you release your game, make sure to publish any XBOX services changes to the RETAIL sandbox when you're ready for them to go live to players of your game. Some changes can't be rolled back after you publish them to RETAIL. Be sure that you're ready for your changes to be released before publishing.

For more information, see XBOX services overview.

XBOX services are a collection of micro-services that expose features such as profile, friends and presence, stats, leaderboards, achievements, multiplayer, and matchmaking. XBOX services aren't supported if you only want to publish a game to the Microsoft Store on Windows.

To use XBOX services and publish XBOX games, you must first enroll as an XBOX partner. To get started, register for the ID@XBOX program at XBOX Developer Programs.

Next steps

See also

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