Wurm's Blog

XNA Community Games can ean you money / XNA Community Games will cost you money

Wednesday, July 23 2008 - xna

Today Microsoft announced how distribution of community games to Xbox live will work. Basically you will be able make money from games created with XNA Game Studio. I have mixed feelings about this on one hand it gives everyone even everyday game creators the chance to make money. This is a great will be a opportunity for a lot of people but is it the right direction for XNA?

Microsoft has been calling Community Games the YouTube of gamming a place where you can put your games and anyone can download it. That means you get a lot of bad games and a few really great ones. So where would YouTube be if you had to pay for downloads?  My guess is that you would have never heard of it. Will Community Games have its equivalent to a video with 10 million views or will the prices keep away the masses. What happens to the everyday gamer gets Rick Rolled they download and pay for a game that is junk, will they take a chance and download any more? I don't think they will. Another factor that has made XBox Live Arcade such a big success is the ability to download a free demo.

Since blog posts with a bunch of questions are boring I will say that I think charging money for all Community Games is not the best move. Only time will tell but I really hope that it turns out to be a big success.