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Version 3.0 - 08/06/2026

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Introduction

Although each game is unique, there are several key areas in which many games encounter challenges during certification. This page covers several of these key areas and provides tips and strategies for avoiding them during certification. To see all tested XBOX Requirement (XR) test cases, go to the Certification test cases page.

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Top failing test cases

The following table shows the distribution of certification failures for each test case, reported separately for XBOX console and PC submissions. N/A indicates the test case isn’t among the top failures for that device type. On PC, failures recorded against Microsoft Store policy 10.4.2 (App Crash or Freeze) are reported under 001-01 Title Stability, and failures recorded against Microsoft Store policy 10.1 (Another Platform) are reported under 022-01 Official Naming Standards.

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Guidance and best practices

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001-01 Title stability

Titles must remain stable throughout test and not have any issues that block the title from being tested. Guidance
Test the title on all supported device types, hardware configurations, and console generations. A majority of stability issues are found in the following examples:
  • Crashes, hangs and/or long loading screens when launching the title. Review the test case Fail Examples for expected timings.
  • Crashes during multiplayer activities such as sending and receiving game invites, matchmaking and joining scenarios.
  • Crashing during general gameplay.
  • Crash or hang when testing suspend, sleep, hibernate, and resume scenarios.
  • Crash or hang when testing user input on all screens where user input is accepted.
  • Crash or hang when rapidly entering and backing out of all game menus.
Additional guidance for PC
On PC, this test case also covers failures recorded against Microsoft Store policy 10.4.2 (App Crash or Freeze). Test with different hardware and video card configurations, using the latest graphics drivers. The title is tested across the five most popular resolutions (1366 x 768, 1440 x 900, 1080P, 1440P, and 4K), in windowed and full-screen mode as applicable, and using a variety of AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs.
  • Install the title from the store. The test team has seen issues after installing the title from the store that aren’t seen when side-loading the title in a developer sandbox.
  • Test multiple resolutions (windowed and full screen).
  • Test random input on all screens.
  • Rapidly enter and back out of game menus.

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003-02 Title integrity

Titles must be functionally complete, testable and meet XBOX quality standards when they are submitted for certification. The submission must include all client code, submission artifacts, and downloadable content. Partner services must be available and properly configured for testing and certification. Titles must package cleanly with no failures using the current version of Submission Validator when submitted to Microsoft, and they must include Submission Validator logs with their submission. The most common reason for failing test case 003-02 during certification is game issues which prevent Certification from running a test pass and/or completing all game modes. Common issues
  • Game modes cannot be completed preventing progression through the title.
  • Leaderboards not populating.
  • Use of various input modes; controllers, keyboards, etc. not working.
  • The player getting into a state that prevents progression through the title (i.e. unable to reload weapons, characters becoming stuck or falling out of the game environment, etc.).
Guidance
  1. Make sure the game is functionally complete and testable.
  2. The game is free of major/game breaking bugs.

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045-01 Respect user privileges

Titles must respect all user’s privilege settings and display the system resolution UI when there is a conflict. Refer to Client-side use of XBOX services user privileges documentation for a detailed look at technical guidance and best practices. Common issues
  1. Titles don’t respect a user’s privileges for both Child and Adult accounts.
  2. Titles don’t use the required APIs to display the system resolution UI.
Examples Failures:
  • Titles allow a user to join or accept game invitations into a multiplayer game session when the You can join multiplayer games privilege set to Block.
  • Titles do no allow users to join or accept game invitations into a multiplayer game session when the You can join multiplayer games privilege set to Block, but does not display the system resolution UI.
Guidance
  1. On XBOX go to Settings -> General -> Online safety & family -> Privacy & online safety -> XBOX privacy.
  2. On PC go to https://aka.ms/XboxPrivSettings to manage privilege and privacy settings.
  3. Verify all privileges in XR-045 with both Child and Adult accounts.
  4. Child accounts are managed by a parent or guardian. They can customize the privilege settings for child accounts in Settings > Account > Family settings > Manage family members.
[!Note] XUserCheckPrivilege determines whether a user has a specific privilege. XUserResolvePrivilegeWithUiAsync displays the system resolution UI that’s required for user privileges. This presents the necessary UI to explain or upsell if the user doesn’t have the privilege.

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064-02 Joining a game session from the same game

The intent of this test case is to verify multiplayer joinability from the same game. When a user joins or accepts an invitation to a multiplayer game experience from the same game, they must be brought into the multiplayer experience. Common issues
  • Joining or accepting an invite to a multiplayer experience from the same game does not bring the user into the experience.
  • Joining or accepting an invite to a password-protected multiplayer experience from the same game does not bring the user into the experience.

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055-01 Achievements

The most common failures are titles failing to unlock Achievements when the criteria has been met. Verify all Achievements unlock when the criteria has been met before submitting to Certification.

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064-03 In-game invitations

This test case applies only to titles that provide an in-game invite mechanism; in-game invites are recommended rather than required. When a title does offer in-game invites, that mechanism must route the invitation through the XBOX platform so the recipient receives it through the XBOX shell notification and can join the session. This includes joinable sessions where cross network players are present and password-protected joinable sessions. For information on advertising joinability and recording activity using the GDK, read the Multiplayer Activity (MPA) overview. Common issues
  1. A title that offers in-game invites doesn’t route them through the XBOX platform, so recipients don’t receive them through the XBOX shell.
  2. The title supports password-protected joinable multiplayer experiences but doesn’t allow players to send game invitations for those experiences from within the game.
Guidance
When a title offers an in-game invite mechanism, verify that every joinable multiplayer experience, including password-protected experiences, routes invitations through the XBOX platform so recipients receive them through the XBOX shell.

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015-01 User communication

Titles must check the XBOX service for a user’s permissions regarding privacy and online safety-related actions and must not transmit user data or allow communication over XBOX when the user’s privacy and online safety settings don’t allow it.
  1. On console go to Settings -> General -> Online safety & family -> Privacy & online safety -> XBOX privacy.
  2. On PC, you can manage privacy settings in XBOX privacy settings.
Common issues
  1. When a user blocks another user, the title does not block all communication from the user that has been blocked.
  2. The user is able to communicate with voice and text over XBOX when ‘Others can communicate with voice, text or invites’ is set to block.
  3. The user is able to communicate via voice and text outside of XBOX when ‘Others can communicate with voice, text or invites’ is set to block.
  4. The title allows the user to receive multiplayer game invitations when ‘Others can communicate with voice, text or invites’ is set to block.

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052-06 Cloud storage: roaming

Game-save progress must roam between like devices when the user is signed into XBOX services. For games that use the same TitleID across devices or console generations, save data must roam between those devices. Game save data must roam successfully between PC and console when supported. Common issues
  1. Game saves cannot be downloaded successfully on a second device of the same type or generation (e.g., XBOX Series S and XBOX Series X, XBOX One and XBOX One S, or two different PCs).
  2. For games that share the same TitleID across console generations (e.g. XBOX One and XBOX Series X|S), game saves cannot be roamed between these devices.
  3. The saves in the cloud are not recognized by the title on first launch, and through no user interaction, are subsequently overwritten on the second device.
  4. Game save data does not roam successfully between PC and console when supported.
Guidance Verify game saves are associated with the profile that created them and that they roam between two devices of the same type when the user is signed in to XBOX.

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052-05 Correct user association

Titles must associate progress, saved state, preferences, achievements, and other rewards with the user(s) who have recorded that progress, chosen the preferences, or earned the rewards. Titles must avoid saving state for users who are no longer signed in. A key aspect of this requirement pertains to handling situations in which the primary user of a title changes while the title is active, suspended, or terminated. Common issues
  1. Titles don’t correctly associate save data with an XBOX profile.
  2. The title incorrectly associates user progress, saved state, preferences, achievements, or other awards with a user following a user change.
  3. A new user’s save progress is not saved following a user change.
  4. A new user can alter a prior user’s save data, state or profile after they have signed out.

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022-01 Official naming standards

The most common failures are when a title references competing platforms in text or images. Make sure all text and images comply with the terminology list and don’t reference competing platforms (i.e. images of a competitor’s controller or button call outs).

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001-02 Title stability after suspend, sleep and hibernate

Titles must remain stable when suspended, slept, hibernated, and resumed. Common issues
  • Crash or hang when the title is suspended, slept, hibernated, or resumed.
  • Crash or hang when changing users while the title is suspended.
  • Crash or hang when suspending the title while navigating menus.
  • Crash or hang when suspending the title while playing an online match.
Guidance
Suspend, sleep, hibernate, and resume the title in all menus, game modes and gameplay scenarios (online and offline). Perform user changes while the title is suspended.

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064-01 Joining a game session from outside the game

This test case verifies joinability from outside the game. When a user joins or accepts an invitation to a multiplayer experience outside the game, they must be brought into the multiplayer experience. Make sure to verify joining multiplayer experiences while the title is terminated and suspended. Common issues
  • Joining or accepting an invite to a multiplayer experience outside the game does not bring the user into the experience.
  • Joining or accepting an invite to a password-protected multiplayer experience outside the game does not bring the user into the experience.
  • Joining a multiplayer experience while the title is terminated or suspended does not bring the user into the multiplayer experience.

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018-01 Reporting inappropriate content and UGC text-string verification

User generated content (UGC) is content that users contribute to an app or product and can be viewed or accessed by other users in an online state. If your product contains UGC, you must:
  • Publish and make available to users a product terms of service and/or content guidelines for User Generated Content either in game or on a title’s website.
  • Provide a means for users to report inappropriate or harmful content within the product to the developer for review and removal/disablement if in violation of content guidelines and/or implement a method for proactive detection of inappropriate or harmful UGC (for example, text filtering).
  • Titles must remove/disable UGC when requested by Microsoft.
  • Gracefully handle scenarios in which a user does not have access to UGC in game.
  • Titles integrated with 3rd party mod platforms must integrate with the product’s report / complaint API if available and must moderate content if required by respective 3rd party contracts.
  • Titles integrated with 3rd party mod platforms must present a disclaimer, dialog, or visual cue to users if the content is not sourced from the developer.
Proactive detection of harmful or inappropriate text Titles that use the StringService API meet the proactive detection requirement (for text scenarios) automatically. Titles should default to using the StringService API for names and other short static text strings. If titles have other text scenarios that allow lengthier text input, or if there are technical or other limiting circumstances, titles can choose to implement their own variant of text filtering by restricting a set of terms from being displayed to another player on XBOX services. See the list of core words that must be used as a minimum baseline for blocking or obfuscation from non-local players on XBOX services. Common issues
  • Titles do not proactively detect harmful or inappropriate text.
Guidance Verify all UGC text strings are filtered for harmful or inappropriate text.

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067-01 Recently Played With interactions

Titles with online multiplayer functionality must record meaningful player interactions on the XBOX network by using the Multiplayer Activity (MPA) Recent Players feature, so the platform can surface the Recently Played With list. For titles still using the legacy Multiplayer Session Directory (MPSD), session-state information may instead be maintained in the MPSD. Don’t use both, because maintaining both can create duplicate records. Common issues
  • Not all the profiles are included in the device’s Recently Played With list.
  • Users who quit during multiplayer gameplay do not appear in the Recently Played With list.
Last modified on October 20, 2026