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The Microsoft GDK plug-ins for Unreal Engine are now publicly available as part of the Unreal Engine 5.8 release. You can download them through the Epic Games Launcher or get them from the Unreal Engine source that Epic Games provides on GitHub. These plug-ins give you everything you need to build, package, and ship your game on XBOX on PC, without leaving the Win64 platform you already work on. These plug-ins, paired with the Microsoft GDK available on GitHub, and improvements to onboarding that enable developers to get started building quicker than ever, are a significant step forward for building for XBOX within Unreal Engine. With Unreal Engine 5.8, these plug-ins are now open to the millions of developers who build upon the Unreal Engine source on GitHub and the Unreal Engine version available in the Epic Games Launcher.
XBOX onboarding now takes about 30 minutes, down from months. The GDK is public, documentation requires no NDA, and PlayFab is free for XBOX games. For the full story, see Press Start: Get Your PC Game Ready for XBOX in One Day.

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What’s included

The Microsoft GDK plug-ins for Unreal Engine provide the foundation for building XBOX on PC games, covering store packaging, GDK runtime access, XBOX services, GameInput, and more. Key plug-ins include:
  • Microsoft GDK Store (MSGameStore): Configure your game in the editor and generate .msixvc packages for XBOX on PC, right from Project Settings.
  • Microsoft GDK Runtime (MSGamingRuntime): Access GDK APIs at runtime for XBOX-compatible save games, user selection, and System UI.
  • Online Subsystem GDK: Use Unreal Engine’s platform abstraction layer to manage achievements, friends, presence, and more.
  • Online Subsystem Selector for PC GDK (MSGameOSSSelector, new in 5.8): Ship a single executable across multiple PC storefronts with automatic runtime switching of Online Subsystem behavior.
Additional plug-ins include GameInput integration, GDK Package Chunk Installer for Intelligent Delivery, and GDK Virtual Keyboard. For a full list and detailed documentation, see the GDK plug-ins documentation from Epic Games.

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Why this matters

Previously, building XBOX on PC games in Unreal Engine meant using WinGDK, a separate platform that required duplicate cooks and introduced third-party plug-in platform incompatibility. It also added friction with a different model of building your PC game that differed from other PC storefronts. The new plug-in model eliminates that. You stay on Win64, your existing third-party plug-ins keep working, and the workflow is a more streamlined part of the Win64 platform in the engine, like other PC storefronts. And until now, accessing these plug-ins required gated access as part of the private GDK Platform Extensions, which provide capabilities for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX One development within Unreal Engine. Starting with the release of Unreal Engine 5.8, the plug-ins that you use to build for XBOX on PC are public, discoverable and downloadable by any Unreal Engine developer. No gates, no waiting.

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Ways to acquire the plug-ins

The following table summarizes how to acquire the plug-ins by engine version. For game teams, we recommend using Unreal Engine source from GitHub. Full source access enables deep customization, debugging into engine code, and the ability to integrate fixes and optimizations specific to your title.
  1. Link your Epic Games account to your GitHub account at unrealengine.com/ue-on-github.
  2. After linking, you get access to the EpicGames/UnrealEngine private repository.
  3. Clone or download the Unreal Engine 5.8 source. The GDK plug-ins are located in the engine source:
    • Engine\Plugins\Runtime\Windows\MSGameStore
    • Engine\Plugins\Runtime\Windows\MSGamingRuntime
    • Engine\Plugins\Online\Microsoft\OnlineSubsystemGDK
    • Engine\Plugins\Runtime\Windows\MSGameOSSSelector
  4. Run Setup.bat and GenerateProjectFiles.bat to configure the build environment.
  5. Build the engine from source following the Building Unreal Engine from Source guide.
When building from GitHub source, the GDK SDK version compatibility is defined in Engine\Config\Microsoft\GDK_SDK.json. Unreal Engine 5.8 supports a broad range of GDK versions up to the April 2026 GDK (versions 250404 through 260499). You can install the GDK with winget install Microsoft.Gaming.GDK.

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Epic Games Launcher

If you don’t need source access, you can download Unreal Engine through the Epic Games Launcher. As of Unreal Engine 5.8, the Microsoft GDK plug-ins are publicly included with the engine download.
  1. Install the Epic Games Launcher if you don’t have it.
  2. Install Unreal Engine 5.8 or later from the Unreal Engine tab in the launcher.
  3. The Microsoft GDK plug-ins are included automatically. No additional download or access request is needed.

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GDK Platform Extensions (Unreal Engine 5.7)

For Unreal Engine 5.7, the GDK plug-ins are available as part of the GDK Platform Extensions. These extensions require membership in an XBOX Developer program, like ID@XBOX, and a separate access request.
  1. Join an XBOX Developer Program such as ID@XBOX.
  2. Request access to Unreal Engine’s Developer Community GDK group by using the access request form.
  3. Upon approval, download the GDK Platform Extensions. The plug-ins are located in the Engine\Platforms\GDK\Plugins folder.
For more information about setting up the GDK Platform Extensions, see Get started with Unreal Engine for PC development.

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How to get started

  1. Install Unreal Engine 5.8, available via GitHub source (recommended) or the Epic Games Launcher.
  2. Install the Microsoft GDK. Unreal Engine 5.8 supports a broad range of versions up to the April 2026 GDK. Install from a terminal with winget install Microsoft.Gaming.GDK or download from aka.ms/gdkdl.
  3. Enable the Microsoft GDK plug-ins in the Plug-in menu and configure the Project Settings under MS Gaming (PC GDK) to associate your game with Microsoft Partner Center.
  4. Configure and package your game: Set up your metadata and generate your .msixvc package directly from the editor.
If you have an existing WinGDK title, a migration script is included to walk you through the conversion:
For detailed plug-in setup, configuration, and packaging steps, see Get started with Unreal Engine for PC development.
To publish your game on XBOX, you need to register for ID@XBOX. The signup process takes about 30 minutes, and you can start building with the GDK and plug-ins while your application is in progress.

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Resources

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See also

Last modified on August 20, 2026

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