The organisers of the Independent Games Festival (IGF), the celebration of indie games which runs as part of the Game Developers Conference, has announced a multi-year partnership that will see Microsoft sponsor an award for games on the Xbox Live Arcade service.
The winner of the XBLA Prize will receive a guaranteed firstparty publishing deal which will see their game released not just on XBLA but Windows and Windows Phone as well. Microsoft will also fully fund development of the game if required, and offer usability, QA and production support.
The 2012 Independent Games Festival runs as part of GDC 2012 from March 5 to 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.