We’ve known about Microsoft’s XNA and the Creators Club for a while now: Microsoft previewed the XNA suite of development tools and middleware back in 2006, and the game studio tools were released at the end of 2007. Today, however, at Microsoft’s Gamefest 2008 conference, the company detailed what it is now calling “Xbox Live Community Games,” a dedicated section of the Xbox Live Marketplace which will debut this fall — presumably as part of the revamped Xbox Live Experience unveiled at E3. The unveiling has also detailed how the process will work for aspiring creators who are hoping to make a buck off of their hard work, promising this new process “will allow anyone to turn the hobby of game-making into a full-fledged career.” Brief details inside.
Microsoft’s press release claims that the new Community Games system will “truly democratize” the indie distribution process. Simply, a game that is submitted by an XNA Creators Club Premium member ($99/year) will have to pass a “peer-review” process, at which point it will go right up on XBLM at one of three price points. A report from Reuters claims these prices will clock in at $2.50, $5, and $10 (or 200, 400, and 800 MS Points, respectively). From there, creators are promised “up to 70%” of the revenue generated by their games.
If true, this is a great day for independents. More avenues for distribution has got to be a good thing — especially ones which will place them in front of massive global audiences. We’ll wait and see, of course, how this works out in practice.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[...] this announcement arrived the same day Microsoft revealed pricing and details for XNA Community Games on Xbox 360, and considering XNA Game Studio has supported both Xbox LIVE and GFW Live for some [...]
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