Microsoft announces that it will start allowing games developed by amateurs to be shared over its Xbox 360 Live service.
If your idea of a good time is creating a video game, you’re probably familiar with
Microsoft’s XNA tools. They’re something the company gives away to let amateurs develops games for the
Xbox 360 and also for Windows. They’re certainly popular – over 800,000 individuals have downloaded them, plus plenty of universities.
There’s been just one drawback. Having used them to develop your game, there was no way to share it with others.
That is now changing, according to a BBC report. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Chris Satchell of Microsoft announced a new service under which amateurs will be able to share their game via Xbox Live.
"Ten million people will be able to play your games," he said. "I think of this as gaming created by the community and managed by the community but enjoyed by everyone."
Certainly it’s a huge leap forward for those amateur developers out there, and for some it could be the big break that helps them become professionals. But it could be even better – Microsoft is working on a revenue-sharing plan for games that are distributed over Xbox Live.
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