Microsoft's indie games programme ID@Xbox has been involved with the release of 1,000 projects since its inception five years ago.
The firm announced this milestone via Twitter with a graphic indicating that 1,600 further projects in the scheme were in 'active development'.
In addition, ID@Xbox reiterated that the projects it has helped release have generated a whopping $1bn in digital revenue. That figure was actually announced at GDC 2018, so odds are the total pile of cash is in fact much higher now.
At the time, the programme's EU boss Agostino Simonetta told PCGamesInsider.biz: "We've effectively doubled the amount of money these games have generated in just six months. That's great for Microsoft, it's great for the developers.
"Now we have 2,800 developers with dev kits and almost 800 titles have launched across Xbox and Window 10 from 477 developers across the globe. I think we probably have all the continents covered. Since the launch of ID@Xbox, more than four billion hours have been spent playing our games, which is about 450,000 years. We obviously know the data, we know how much we have sold.
"But when you take a snapshot like that and look at the data altogether. It feels good. It feels like we're going in the right direction. At the same time, the feedback we are getting from the developers is positive. We put a lot of effort into making sure they have the best possible experience and invest a lot in making sure we promote them as much as we can."
The firm reckons that 4.6bn hours have been spent playing these 1,000 games. Furthermore, ID@Xbox developers are spread across 67 countries around the world.
Microsoft also revealed that 45 games have been launched via the Xbox Game Preview programme. This is the Xbox One equivalent of Steam's Early Access and so far has facilitated the in-development launches of projects including Playerunknown's Battlegrounds and Ark: Survival Evolved.
"We're getting closer and closer to the point where the only gating factor in the success of a video game is the vision of the creator and the willingness to make that happen," ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla told Eurogamer.
"It's no longer that the gates are platform access or technology in terms of being able to create a game engine. To me, that's awesome, because it means that we're seeing more and more new voices emerge, and we're seeing more and more stories from people we've never heard from before. That's what excites me so much about the independent scene right now."
ID@Xbox was announced at Gamescom 2013 and over the last five years has been a source of a great number of critically acclaimed titles including Inside, Cuphead and The Escapists. It certainly has also been a source of positive PR, especially during the, um, 'tumultuous' early days of the Xbox One.
