The Independent Game Festival organisers have signed a multi-year deal with Microsoft that puts a new prize up for grabs; a first-party publishing deal across Microsoft’s platforms.

Selected by a standalone panel of judges watched over by Microsoft, the new ‘XBLA Prize’ will be awarded to only one indie hopeful. The prize entitles the chosen game to be published on Microsoft’s LIVE-enabled platforms, which include Xbox LIVE Arcade and Windows Phone. If the winner desires, they also have access to funding to complete development of the chosen title. The first winner of this prize will be picked from the 2012 Independent Games Festival entrants from either the Main Competition or Student Showcase, and will be announced on stage at the IGF Awards during Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 7th, 2012.

Gamasutra also added to the news that Microsoft’s head of first-party publishing for Xbox LIVE Arcade, Ted Woolsey, revealed that “Microsoft Studios invests more than $20 million dollars per year to fund Xbox LIVE Arcade games”, on top of this new deal. This previously unreleased statistic goes to show Microsoft’s push on the digital distribution platform, and it looks like they are looking to further this effort by grabbing more indies into the mix.

Earlier this year it was announced that Twisted Pixel had become part of Microsoft after having operated as an indie with their games published on LIVE Arcade. This may become more of a common occurrence if Microsoft are looking to expand in this sector. The paupers in the Xbox LIVE Indie Game section will have to impress big time if they wish to get ‘upgraded’ to the more profit-easy Arcade section.

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