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Certify a game

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Important

This topic describes features that are only available to Managed Creators with appropriate permissions. For details, speak to your Microsoft contacts.

This article describes how to Certify a game so that the packages can be tested and the product configuration can be validated before publishing. Before you can publish to the RETAIL sandbox (the environment in which customers will access your product), the Store listings, Pricing and availability and Packages pages must be certified. If you make updates to these pages after certifying them, follow these steps to submit them to Certification again.

Prerequisites

Complete the Certification questionnaire

Before submitting the product for Certification, ensure that you've completed the Certification questionnaire. The questionnaire provides information about your product to the test team.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Certification from the left navigation pane.
  5. Answer the questions in the multiple-choice questionnaire and provide accurate information about your game.
  6. Select Save to save your answers.
  7. If required, select Files from the left navigation pane and upload any supporting files that the test team might need.

Certify Packages

Packages are tested by Xbox Certification to verify compliance with the Policies and Xbox Requirements (XRs). For information about the Certification process, see Certification step-by-step guide.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Packages from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where you've uploaded the package requiring Certification.
  6. Confirm that you've uploaded the Submission Validator xml log file with your package. If the log file contains any error or warnings, ensure you've confirmed that these are expected and if required, have an approved exception. If you think you require an exception, speak to your Microsoft contacts.
  7. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  8. On the Certify page, the Packages, Age Ratings and Properties modules will be included automatically.
  9. Select a source sandbox for the Xbox services for your product. You should select the source that has the correct configuration that is intended to be tested with your package.
  10. If you're submitting for Optional Certification, select Optional certification (feedback only). If you're submitting for Final Certification, leave this unchecked.
  11. If you're submitting for Final Certification and the package will be distributed on physical discs, select Intended for discs.
  12. Enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  13. Select Submit to Certification.
  14. The Xbox Certification team will receive your package for review. The amount of time it takes to test the package varies depending on the type of submission and the platform being tested. For more information, see Submit for Certification.

After testing is complete, you'll get Certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Game overview page, which can be selected from the left navigation pane. If you pass Certification, you'll see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Packages page that you submitted for Certification.

Certify Store listings

Store listings are reviewed by the Store Certification and Xbox Art Certification teams.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Store listings from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where you've prepared the Store listings requiring Certification.
  6. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  7. On the Certify page, the Store listings, Age Ratings and Properties modules will be included automatically.
  8. Enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  9. Select Submit to Certification.
  10. The Certification team will receive your Store listings for review. It generally takes around one business day to review your Store listings.

After testing is complete, you'll get Certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Store listings page. If you pass Certification, you'll see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Store listings page that you submitted for Certification.

Certify Pricing and availability

Pricing is reviewed by the Xbox Store team.

  1. Sign in to Partner Center.
  2. On the Home page, select Apps and games.
  3. On the Apps and games | Overview page, select your game. Or, enter your game's name in the search bar and then select your game.
  4. Select Pricing and availability from the left navigation pane.
  5. Select the Main branch, or the branch where you've prepared the Store listings requiring Certification.
  6. Select Certify near the top of the page.
  7. On the Certify page, enter any notes for certification into the text box.
  8. Select Submit to Certification.
  9. The Certification team will receive your Pricing for review. It generally takes around five business days to review your Pricing.

After testing is complete, you'll get Certification results in the form of a Certification Report. You can view this report from the Pricing and availability page. If you pass Certification, you'll see a green banner indicating this result in the branch of the Pricing and availability page that you submitted for Certification.

Next steps