Microsoft to allow users to create and share their own Xbox 360 games

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Microsoft has announced today that it will be releasing a special version of its XNA architecture called XNA Game Studio Express. The new product is designed to allow independent developers and students to create their own games simultaneously for the PC and Xbox 360. Not only that, Microsoft will allow these developers to share their work over Xbox Live via the new Creators Club, for an annual fee of $US99. The software itself will be distributed for no charge.

The Redmond-based company believes that it can use its new XNA product to promote independent design, suggesting that XNA Game Studio Express will "democratize game development by delivering the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry."

The games created with the software will not be available to all Xbox 360 owners at first, but there is hope that games of a reasonable quality will make their way onto the Xbox Live Arcade service. At this stage, Microsoft has not revealed when it will allow users to download games from the Creators Club at will.

The XNA Game Studio Express beta will be available August 30, 2006 as a free download on Windows XP. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available in time for Christmas.

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23 Comments

Spanca

5 years ago

I like the idea of encouraging the involvement of enthusiasts in game development for free. It's rare to see Microsoft doing anything remotely related to open source so it's hard to complain about this

?oe?oe

5 years ago

OMG it's Nintendo ON

DancesInUnderwear

5 years ago

That is a brilliant idea. Well done to Microsoft.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

One word, "Yes!" Can't wait to check this out

Qbert

5 years ago

Awesome news

Echo

5 years ago

Yes. I think it will be a huge break through for independant developers. Fee seems reasonable as well. Looking foward to it.

chriharr

5 years ago

I knew Microsoft would head this direction, smart move, but how can developers make money when they are paying microsoft to make games, surely microsoft will allow students etc to come to an arrangement where they pay the subscription fee and if the game gets a certain rank then they should be able to profit from it

D.Dark

5 years ago

I read in a link(which i'll have to search for) that nintendo would allow you to design a stage in almost any game and allow you to broadcast it to anyone and everyone using WiiConnect24. Looks like MS also had that in mind but for a price.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

D.Dark wrote

Other way around, I heard about the possibility of this happening before the Wii Controller was even announced. I gather that Nintendo have "forced" Microsoft's hand.

wobbler

5 years ago

Sounds like a great idea, will the $99 US fee allow anyone to download these games for free or would there be an additional charge?

D.Dark

5 years ago

nikack wrote

Other way around, I heard about the possibility of this happening before the Wii Controller was even announced. I gather that Nintendo have "forced" Microsoft's hand.

XNA was actually planned for only Vista/PC usage but it now seemed like a good idea to put it on a videogame console with online capabilities, it feels right to allow you to only design stages and minigames like nintendo is going to do cos people will be passing around crappy games if they dont censor it.

admeister

5 years ago

It's always for a price, with Microsoft. "Not only that, Microsoft will allow these developers to share their work over Xbox Live via the new Creators Club, for an annual fee of $US99."

Ouch, that isn't cheap, I wonder how many people will take them up on this service? Doesn't seem like such a good deal to me, you have to pay that, and then spend the time making the game on top of that, then you don't even make any profit out of it.. An overall net loss for our hypothetical programmer..

"I read in a link(which i'll have to search for) that nintendo would allow you to design a stage in almost any game and allow you to broadcast it to anyone and everyone using WiiConnect24."

I don't remember reading that anywhere, I hope that it is true! I'd love to design a stage or two for SSB: Brawl! I'd download other people's too, definitely.

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

This is a great idea, and considering the fact that it seems Microsoft are giving out the tools for free, $99US a year doesn't seem like that much to get recognition for your abilities, put a couple of plugs in the title of your game to a website offering other titles, for a price of course, and you just may have yourself a sale.

magrat

5 years ago

From the FAQ http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/

Q: Can I use the XNA Game Studio Express or XNA Framework to build a commercial Xbox 360 game?
A: XNA Game Studio Express will enable you to create Windows and now Xbox 360 console games much more easily. These games are limited to non-commercial scenarios for 360 titles created with XNA Game Studio Express. However, XNA Game Studio Express may be used to create commercial games which target Windows. We will be releasing XNA Game Studio Professional next spring which will allow developers to create commercial games for Xbox addition to Windows.

So you can use the express edition for non-commerical purposes, but if you want to sell it you'll have to purchase the Professional edition. (on the Xbox360 at least)

Q: How exactly can I share my 360 game to other 360 users? Will my game only be available to people with the XNA “Creators Club” subscription? Will it be available to all 360 users that have an Xbox Live account?
A: There is currently no supported way to share binaries on the Xbox 360. Currently, there are four requirements that must be met in order to share a game targeting Xbox 360 which is developed with XNA Game Studio Express.

The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

Q: Can I store my XNA Game Studio Express game on my memory card and share it with a friend?
A: No. Games developed using XNA Game Studio Express cannot be shared through a memory card at this time

Not exactly a simple process to share content, looks like Microsoft want to ensure no rubbish or buggy / dangerous code gets out onto Xbox live, which is fair enough. Looks like only the best will actually make it to the Live Arcade - the rest might never get a look in

All in all an interesting idea, basically giving you the development environment for the xbox360, and an alternative to the DirectX SDK for windows programming - but it does lock you into C# and the .NET framework. Giving the punters the tools is always a good thing - might have to grab this and have a play with it.

Cerebral

5 years ago

admeister wrote

You never run out of things to complain about, do you?

Did you honestly think indie developers or students would turn a net profit if they were to try and get their game published by a third party? It's going to cost you a lot more, if you want to actually make profit as far as getting your game published goes, like every other professional developer in the market. Games these days cost upwards of 10 million dollars to create.

With this in mind, something that costs less than World of Warcraft a year is a pretty good deal to share your creation with the rest of the world.

edit: Not to mention that the $99 price tag filters out all the crap. Any old wannabe can slap a game together and peddle it, but the game's likely to be bad, boring, buggy, and generally a waste of everyone's time. The cost is cheap, but sizeable so that only the people who are serious about making games reap the rewards (and honestly, who can't afford USD$99? I have an awful, low paying job and even I earn more than that a week

)

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Hey it turns out you could get some sort of profits if your game goes on Xbox Live Arcade or whatever.

Here is the link to the article I read it on:

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20133437%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Part where they talk about 'revenue sharing'.

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

But you have to remember, apparantly Microsoft can't do anything right, therefore I'm sure that they won't be paying anywhere near enough in royalties to all the designers.

</sarcasm>

EvilHayama

5 years ago

I'm not sure I'd be happy paying $US99 just to play other people's crappy games and then pay additional money for specific games... I'm guessing the revenue sharing thing would let MS pick up good games and publish them to Live.
I can't see this being very popular until there are a -lot- of games... It's only $10 a month or something, but how many decent games will there be?

ugh the boot

5 years ago

No way am I subscribing to this!! It's a great idea but I barely have time to play the AAA stuff let alone shareware crap.

GooberMan

5 years ago

I'd probably sign up to it when I get an X360 and get all my PC stuff working on it so that I don't have to have my computer hooked to my TV all the time

Cerebral

5 years ago

Article wrote

The software itself will be distributed for no charge.

The price tag is for the DEVELOPERS to get their games into the market.

k1dcharm

5 years ago

I wonder if anyone is going to say MS is copying Nintendo...

When one of the Sony guy saying he encourage Homebrew on PS3, someone said Sony is copying Nintendo (don't know where it came from). Now MS is following suit... I wonder when will the MS is copying Nintendo statement start.

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

I didn't even know Nintendo were doing anything like this. If them and Sony is offering a similar incentive I'm all for it.

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