Initial release | July 2022 (Private Alpha)[1] November 15th 2022 (Beta)[2] |
---|---|
Platform | Microsoft Xbox |
Predecessor | Xbox Live |
Website | https://insignia.live |
As of | October 2024 |
Insignia is a server that aims to restore the functionality of Xbox Live for the original Xbox.[3] [4] By October 2024 it has over 18,000 users registered and supports 192 of 339 games that uses Xbox Live features. Insignia was created via reverse engineering and is currently in open beta.
Insignia was started in 2019 by two developers "Billy" and "Luke" who decited to work together trying to make an Xbox Live alternative. Billy worked previously on replacement services for Wii U and 3DS and Luke was the lead developer of an open source Xbox Emulator.[5] It was publicly announced in May 2020 and it was planned to go live in 2020.[6] In July 2022 a closed alpha test was started.[7] Insignia went into an open beta on November 15 2022 and supported 25 games at release. One month before the public beta, people could already sign up for it. By November 3 around 7000 people signed up for the waiting list.[8][9] By December 2022, 3,500 people got approved and 40 games were supported.[4] By November 2023 it went up to 150 games and over 8,000 users.[10] Insignia's aim is to support every title that had Xbox Live support. Some popular titles are either not supported yet or are supported on a limited basis. Games by Electronic Arts used their own servers, that were not based on Xbox Live and can not be supported at this time.[11][5]
In March 2024 it was announced that Halo 2 servers would launch on 15. March 2024. The announcement reached also the Certain Affinity founder Max Hoberman, who designed many of the Halo 2 maps.[12]
Insignia can work on both unmodified (stock), as well as modified consoles, also including emulators. To work on Insignia, a console has to be registered to Insignia's servers, the user can create an Xbox Live account similar to how it would have originally been done. Insignia requires an email to register an account.[13]