Last week, Epic Games released an updated version of the Unreal Engine, numbered 5.8, which did not go unnoticed by Microsoft. In response, the corporation launched a special set of GDK plugins intended to simplify the development of games for the Xbox ecosystem on PC.
Previously, creating games on Unreal Engine for Xbox on PC required using a separate platform called WinGDK. According to Microsoft, this process was not very convenient. The new plugins allow developers to work with games in Win64.
Specifically, the set includes:
- Microsoft GDK Store. This allows developers to configure game settings in the Unreal Engine 5.8 editor and create packages for Xbox on PC via the Project Settings menu;
- Microsoft GDK Runtime. It provides access to the GDK API during gameplay for cloud saves, user selection, and other options;
- Online Subsystem GDK. This is necessary for working with various Xbox services: achievements, friend lists, player presence status, and more;
- Online Subsystem Selector. This plugin lets developers compile the same executable file for different PC stores, allowing the engine to automatically switch the online subsystem used depending on the platform.
Recently, Microsoft has been actively sharing useful resources with developers. For example, at the end of 2025, it opened access to guidelines for publishing games on Xbox, and a few weeks ago, it released the Xbox Godot Sample project, which teaches creators of Godot games to work with the Xbox ecosystem on PC.