Remember back in July of 2013, when Microsoft announced that it would eventually allow the Xbox One to be used as a dev kit? After almost two years of silence, the company is finally opening up on the subject. According to a post on The Verge, Microsoft is planning on announcing the ability to use the Xbox One as a dev kit, as well as the universal app platform we’ve all been eagerly awaiting during its Build conference in April.

This means that once summer rolls around, developers will be granted the ability to transform the retail console into an app developing playground. At the moment, the company restricts app development for the newest system to a small group of developers. Once this program is set in place, everyone who is savvy enough will be able to get to work.

Sources tell The Verge that developers will also be able to use beta apps, enabling them to test their creations with the community before release. Also, it was revealed that Windows 10 based apps will be able to run in the background. Yep, that means your third party music apps will finally be able to provide background music for your gaming adventures. This is something Sony is already allowing with the PS4–albeit it is through USB storage and not an app.

While existing apps will continue to run on the console, the new system will be available to the public in November of this year. That means developers will have the whole summer and fall to build their apps on the new universal apps SDK. If you remember, Windows 10–which will support the new apps–is set to arrive later this year.