Last year at Microsoft"s Build 2016 conference, the company began allowing developers to run UWP apps on the Xbox One, with full support coming in the Anniversary Update. One key feature was missing though, which was that games weren"t - and still aren"t - supported.
That all changes this year. Microsoft held its Windows Developer Day for the Creators Update, where it formally announced that UWP games will be coming to the console this year.
The firm wasn"t specific about when we might see the feature in 2017, but it seems unlikely that it will arrive in the Creators Update for a couple reasons. For one thing, Microsoft said this morning that the current Windows 10 SDK Preview is feature-complete, so adding Xbox support to UWP games doesn"t seem like something that will happen at this late stage.
Another reason that it doesn"t seem likely is that developers can"t even install the Creators Update preview. You might recall that last year, developers were the first to gain access to Anniversary Update previews, even before Preview Program members were eligible. That"s not the case this time around, as you"ll need an invitation for one of the higher rings of the Insider Preview to get it.
Indeed, it seems that support for UWP games will be coming in Redstone 3, which is slated for the second half of this year.
Update: According to Jez Corden of Windows Central, Microsoft will not be opening up UWP games to all developers, and they will still require ID@Xbox approval.