[Dev News] Defold Engine Now on Xbox (PS and Switch)!

[xSicKxBot]

The free and (nearly) open source cross platform Defold game engine just added a major feature to it’s feature set – Xbox support! This joins the long standing support for the Nintendo Switch and the more recently added support for PlayStation 4 and 5, meaning the Defold engine now supports all 3 major consoles… completely free! Unfortunately console support is never simple as every console SDK is locked behind an NDA, and the Xbox is no exception.

Details of the new Defold engine Xbox support:

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – October 12, 2026 – The Defold Foundation today announced the availability of Microsoft Xbox development in Defold 1.14.0 for approved Xbox developers provided free of charge. This completes a major expansion of Defold’s console capabilities, with the engine now supporting the three major console platform families: Microsoft Xbox, PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5, and Nintendo Switch.

Getting access to Xbox development [/url]

Developers must first be approved for Xbox console development. Read the [url=https://developer.microsoft.com/en-US/games/publish]Microsoft game publishing page to learn about Microsoft’s publishing programmes, including ID@Xbox, and complete the registration and approval process.

ID@Xbox (Independent Developers @ Xbox) is a program by Microsoft that lets independent game developers self-publish digital games on Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and cloud gaming platforms.

Once Microsoft has approved your organisation, sign in to the Xbox middleware page using an account associated with it, find Defold, and request access.

After the request has been verified, the Defold Foundation will provide access to the Xbox-specific resources and instructions, including:

• the Xbox extension with platform integrations such as user management and game saves,
  
  
• information about the required development tools and the workflow for building, bundling, and testing Xbox games,
  
  
• access to Xbox-specific developer support.
  
  

The Microsoft Xbox development manual contains the current access and setup instructions.

Xbox support is available from Defold 1.14.0, with platform-specific functionality and documentation provided free of charge to approved developers. Console development requires additional tools that we cannot distribute due to NDA restrictions. The manual explains how to access the setup instructions.

Key Links

Defold Homepage

Defold Adds Xbox Support Announcement

Defold on Xbox Documentation

Discord Server

You can learn more about Defold on the Xbox and the other major consoles in the below.