Microsoft courting UWP game developers with $200,000 contest

Microsoft is reviving their Dream.Build.Play developer contest, which last ran from 2007 to 2012, offering prizes ranging from $100,000 to $25,000 for developers who can create compelling UWP games using Microsoft technologies.

The contest is open to all developers, working solo or in teams of up to seven in the categories of Cloud-powered games, PC games, Mixed Reality games and Console games with the following requirements:

• Cloud-powered game:  Grand Prize: $100,000 USD
  • Build a game that uses Azure Cloud Services on the backend, like Service Fabric, CosmosDB, containers, VMs, storage, and Analytics. Judges will give higher scores to games that use multiple services in creative ways-and will award bonus points for Mixer integration.
• PC game:  Grand Prize: $50,000 USD
  • Create a Windows 10 game using whatever technology you prefer—even middleware like Unity, Cocos, and GameMaker—and publish it to the Windows Store. Using Windows 10 features like Cortana or Inking will give your game an advantage with the judges.
• Mixed reality game: Grand Prize: $50,000 USD
  • Create an immersive mixed reality experience that lets players interact with 3D volumetric content in a virtual space. Use whichever tools you prefer (like Unity) to build as long as your game uses Windows Mixed Reality. Judges will prefer games that incorporate audio content.
• Console game: Grand Prize: $25,000 USD
  • Build a UWP game for the Xbox One console family and incorporate the Xbox Live Creators Program with at least Xbox Live presence. Extra consideration will be given to games that incorporate Xbox Live services like leaderboards and statistics.

Developers can register now, and start submitting games from the 2nd August, with the winners being announced in March 2018. Games must be published in the Windows Store.

Read the full rules at Microsoft here.