Talking the importance of culturally diverse indies with Agnes Kim from Xbox

It’s no secret by now that indie gaming is the best it’s ever been. We’re seeing incredibly talented developers from all walks of life creating heartfelt, clever, mechanically rich and unique video games. But indie developers can’t do it all themselves. These are sometimes incredibly small teams, and need to spend years developing their titles, honing their craft… and then to launch a successful product in a market that’s more crowded than ever? It’s tough out there.

The ID@Xbox program launched in 2013, a major investment in the independent games industry. Since it started, more than $5 billion has been paid to indie developers all over the world, in an effort to help bring them to life. ID@Xbox has worked with over 5,000 developers globally and has shipped an estimated 6,000 games since then, with over 1,000 titles now supporting Xbox Play Anywhere, expanding their audience. In fact, we got the chance to preview several quite recently, from Southeast Asia specifically.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Agnes Kim, Head of Strategic Markets at Xbox, to talk specifically about insights into the Asia-Pacific market, how ID@Xbox has become more adventurous over the years and the ongoing commitment to indie game development.

Agnes Kim leads Xbox’s Strategic Markets team, which is best thought of as a global expansion team. Their goal, as Kim puts it, is to “find amazing games around the world in markets that are newer to Xbox — markets we consider emerging — and bring those games onto our platform.”

Agnes Kim: I lead a team full of amazing people. It goes across many different regions — Southeast Asia, Korea, China, India, and more — with a lot of focus on Asia. What I love about what I do, and what my team does, is getting to see games and talent that exist everywhere, in corners of the world that five or ten years ago we weren’t as adventurous in engaging with. That’s the focus of what our team does and what I really love about my work.

Checkpoint Gaming: Why would you say the team has gotten more adventurous over the last few years?

Agnes Kim: That’s a good question. I think there was at the time. Our team has been established for about three and a half years. As you can imagine, it takes a village to set up a team that focuses on global expansion and strategic markets. About a year before the establishment of this team, we were looking into Xbox’s footprint and the games we were bringing through ID@Xbox onto our platforms.

Checkpoint Gaming: So, you’re juggling several different markets and trying to figure out and find these games. How do you tailor your strategy to these different markets? What are some of the differences you see?

Agnes Kim: Yeah, I think there’s a reason why we hire people in-region — they know best. I’m not, hopefully, arrogant enough to say I know every culture, every language, what types of games are made, or what kinds of talent exist in these regions. I very much rely on the folks who see the developers, talk to the developers, understand the culture, and play those games locally. I’m lucky enough to have these people based in-region: Shannon (Loftis) is based in Singapore, Arjun (Varma) is based in Bangalore, India, and we have team members in Nigeria, China, and Korea. These folks live and breathe the games and talk to the developers daily. They’re able to bring back knowledge and information, and I heavily rely on them to inform me and update internal stakeholders on the types of games being made and the kinds of developers we’re seeing.

One thing that ties all these regions together is that many were historically mobile-heavy markets. A lot of the game developers focused on making mobile games. But now, we’re seeing an interesting shift: many developers are thinking about diversifying their platform strategy, driven by factors like rising content acquisition costs and the realisation that console and PC games can become global IPs and reach wider audiences.

That trend grounds us together. Of course, there are differences — China and Korea have a strong DNA in free-to-play and PC games, while Southeast Asia and India are seeing a budding interest in indie console and PC games, which is fascinating to watch. They’re all a little different, but across all these markets, what excites me is the deep passion for building regional gaming industries. Some are newer and more nascent; others have longer histories, but in each, there’s a strong sense that “without us, it can’t happen.” I love visiting these regions — it brings me so much joy, and you can truly feel the passion from the developers. That shared passion is another common ground across these regions.

Checkpoint Gaming: These programs are designed to really boost, kick-start or support these indie devs. What are some of the things you support them with when an indie joins the ID@Xbox program?

Agnes Kim: Yeah, we do a couple of things. I like to call my team the best friends of these indie developers. We really fight for the developers’ games internally. There’s a sort of cycle: in the beginning, efforts can be organic or inorganic. Organic in the sense that we might find games online or through community associations; inorganic in the sense that we run events like Xbox Discovery Days. We’ve done these in Thailand, Singapore, and India, bringing local developers together to learn about Xbox — covering basic information like what ID@Xbox is, what we can offer, marketing tips and tricks, launch timing advice, and recommendations for art assets to bring when publishing on our platform.

That’s the initial engagement — getting developers interested in thinking about Xbox. When developers feel ready to share their games, they can either go through our greenlight process themselves, or my team members can pitch the games internally on their behalf. While you don’t have to know someone at Xbox to raise a game’s profile, it helps to have someone advocating for it. And no one does that better than my team, who are so passionate about their regions and indie games. So education, evangelism, and advocacy are all important parts of what we do.

There are also deeper partnership opportunities, like the Developer Acceleration Program, which helps port games to Xbox, and prototype funding for earlier-stage concepts. Then there are Game Pass opportunities, which are highly coveted. We’ve supported several developers from Southeast Asia and India through these programs. We keep communication open — our team is always available via email for any questions, challenges, or games developers want to share. One of the biggest values we bring is providing honest feedback to help developers improve their chances of selling more games, securing funding, completing their games, or getting marketing exposure. We really act as their best friends, doing everything we can to help their games succeed on our platform.

If we go back 10 years, there was a lot of hesitation, not just in game development, but in media generally, to produce something that looked and felt truly local. The thinking was, if it didn’t seem global or Western, it would feel too foreign and not appeal to viewers or players. But lately, with regional cultural content becoming blockbusters and global hits, the shift is very clear. In a way, it’s a new kind of globalisation. Viewers and players are more interested than ever in seeing other parts of the world. They don’t think, “this is too foreign for me,” anymore — they embrace it, seek it out, and are excited to learn.

So it’s not only that we’re seeing more culturally specific games, but we know players are seeking them too, which is great for developers. They’re clearly passionate about their subject matter — they’re not doing it just to commercialise it. They genuinely care about sharing their history and culture, like in Ghostlore, where the mythology and ghosts come from different cultures.

I’m really excited by this trend because it means we can truly achieve globalisation — not by making every game look and feel like a U.S. game, but by being authentic. I’d love to see more games from Australia that feel that way too. I’d get to learn more about Australia, which I honestly don’t know much about yet.

Checkpoint Gaming: Lots of Kangaroos.

Agnes Kim: I think Quokkas. I know about Quokkas! They’re cute!

Checkpoint Gaming: Can you point to any particular titles or success stories, games that have really done quite well from the program on that global scale or even just locally as well?

Agnes Kim: Yeah, there are some titles from Toge Productions that have done really well, like Coffee Talk. I’m probably mentioning slightly older titles, but Coffee Talk — while set in Seattle and having a more Western taste — is still developed and published by a team from Indonesia. When When The Past Was Around was released — I think it was published by Toge Productions and developed by Mojiken. Now, Mojiken has been acquired by Toge as well. That’s another successful title from Indonesia.

I’m giving a lot of examples from Toge because they do a good job of balancing cultural aspects while making their games digestible for a global audience. A Space for the Unbound is another — it was nominated at the Game Awards last year or the year before. Toge Productions has worked closely with us, and some of these titles were ID@Xbox titles and have done really well globally. They’re a very relevant case study.

This isn’t an indie title and isn’t part of Xbox (yet), but Black Myth: Wukong is another great example — a game rooted deeply in Chinese history that’s seen global success. There are many examples — I’m probably blanking on a few right now! Ghostlore is another; it was part of our Game Pass lineup and focuses on Southeast Asian mythology, demons, and ghosts. It’s performed very well for us. Another example is Detective Dotson, which is very Indian in its look and feel. It was one of our showcase titles at GDC. It hasn’t launched yet, but it’s one of the titles the Xbox team is really excited about. I believe it has strong potential for global success, too.

Checkpoint Gaming: What are your teams major goals for the next few years? What does the future look like in terms of evolving the ID@Xbox program?

Agnes Kim: Yeah, I would say this: every year, I want more awesome games from these regions coming to our platform and seeing global success. Of course, it’s one thing to bring titles onto our platform, but we want to make sure they grow their fan bases, make money, feel happy, and are able to make sequels, new games, and continue to thrive.

One of our team’s collective goals is making sure we bring these titles to Xbox and help them succeed and grow. A great example is Toge Productions — seeing them blossom as a publisher and developer over the years has been incredible. The same goes for Nodding Heads Games with Raji: An Ancient Epic. We want to see more of those cases because, ultimately, successful publishers and developers inspire the next wave of local talent. They show up-and-coming developers, who might feel overwhelmed thinking about Xbox or a Western audience, that it’s possible. We want to build more of these success stories and continue to create a thriving regional market that produces awesome games.

As I said earlier, there’s a difference between just publishing a game on our platform and actually helping it succeed. It’s not just about ticking a box — it’s about making sure developers can continue doing what they love: making games. We understand the value of marketing and what we can provide as Xbox is visibility on a global stage. We do our best to highlight these titles and find every way we can to support them because we recognise the privilege we have in offering that platform.

I absolutely agree — we have a lot of passionate people who want to see our indie partners thrive. I believe we’ll continue doing that and will find even more cool programs in the future to keep highlighting them.