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The announcement of Xbox LIVE Community Games, launching later this year, opens up a whole new avenue of game development. Naturally, we have some questions, so we took them to Albert Ho, Group Program Manager of the XNA Community Team. Albert answers our questions about making games and making money with Xbox LIVE Community Games.
Q: Albert, I want to start out with you: tell us what you do for the XNA team and what you're up to.
I’m the Group Program Manager on the XNA Community team. Technically, it means I manage other program managers who make sure that we’re developing the best experience for both game Creators and Xbox LIVE users around Community Games. I work with some of the smartest and most capable people in the industry who do all the real thinking and work. I do my best to support their great endeavors and not get in their way – really!
While program managers don’t write code, we have to be technical, since we work with developers and testers very closely. We deal with lots of issues, ranging from websites and databases, all the way to the end-to-end experiences that showcase Community Games on the Xbox 360 console. Just as important however, is for us to identify and help drive business and policy decisions with many important teams such as business development, legal and marketing to make Community Games successful.
Q: The big news is all about making money with community games. What does this really mean for a creator?
It’s called Xbox LIVE Community Games, and it’s an opportunity for creators in the XNA Creators Club to make a game that'll get in the hands of millions of people on Xbox LIVE. Right now, there are twelve million Xbox LIVE users...this is a big opportunity.
Q: Is this the first time there's been this kind of an open market for video game creation?
The idea of making your own games has been around for a long time. I was just four years old when I played my first Atari game - I didn't know about Nolan Bushnell; I was just a brat playing video games. Even back then, the Atari 2600 had a BASIC cartridge and a keyboard you could plug in to make your own games.
Fast-forward to XNA Game Studio and community games: we have managed code (no more coding in assembly), digital distribution, and a hardware platform with a tremendous amount of power. The feeling – that dream to create your own game – is still there, but the power you have as a creator has come so far; having the Xbox opens up a whole new field for homebrew development.
Q: How is this new opportunity tied to the new Xbox 360 dashboard experience?
Coming this fall, Xbox 360 users will get a complete update to their Xbox 360 experience, including a brand new Marketplace experience on the console, as well as on Xbox.com where you can browse and purchase games – even on the web, queuing it up for download on your Xbox 360 right from your computer – and I’m happy to say that Xbox LIVE Community Games will be a part of that new experience.
We're investigating ways for creators to link to their community games on Marketplace from all sorts of places on the web.
Q: Which countries will get to participate this holiday?
At launch, creators of community games in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, and Spain can sell their games to Xbox LIVE users in those countries. So, creators in Spain, for example, can sell their games to Xbox LIVE users in Spain, US, Canada, UK, France, and Italy. We are looking at expanding support for additional countries in the future.
Q: Will Community Games have the same types of features as Xbox LIVE Arcade titles?
We make sure that you get all the power of the Xbox 360’s graphics, audio, and input systems to make your game – even a multiplayer game over Xbox LIVE.
But there are a few things that are currently not available in community games: achievements, leaderboards, and premium downloadable content. We're thinking about these and exploring them.
Q: What about money - does the creator choose the price point?
Yes, the creator can choose from three different prices to charge, in Microsoft Points. You can charge 200, 400, or 800 Microsoft Points.
If your game is over 50 MB in size, you will not be able to select the 200-point option. It’s explained best in this table, which uses US$ as an example:
| Microsoft Points |
US $ |
File Size Limit |
| 200 |
$2.50 |
50 MB |
| 400 |
$5.00 |
150 MB |
| 800 |
$10.00 |
150 MB |
Q: If I'm a creator, can I put my game on Community Games for free?
This fall, no. We want to be careful to set expectations for the Xbox LIVE users who will be purchasing community games. We believe that there are and will be great community games that people want to buy, and we'd rather have more quality games when we launch, which will set the bar higher and give our Xbox LIVE users more value.
Q: Will consumers be able to play trials of these Community Games?
Definitely. We want people to try before they buy! We'll have a timed trial for all games. We’ll be releasing more details about how this trial system works around the time we release the next Beta of the XNA Creators Club and Xbox LIVE Community Games.
Q: The next Beta?
Yes! We're going to launch one more Beta of Xbox LIVE Community Games and the corresponding pieces of the XNA Creators Club Online website before we go live later this year.
Specifically, this second Beta will allow us to test our system for submitting games internationally, as well as testing the new media community games will need, such as box art and slide shows, so that they look their best in the new Xbox 360 interface.
Stay tuned to the website - we'll be announcing it soon!
Q: Let's get back to money - how much money am I going to make with my community games?
Creators will make up to 70% on every game sale. In most cases, it'll be 70%.
In certain cases, we will promote your game prominently on our properties like Xbox.com and the Xbox 360 Marketplace, and in that case, we will take an extra 10 – 30%, depending on how much traffic we're getting your game.
We're looking at ways to help creators track the amount of traffic their games are receiving, so they can make sure they're getting a good deal.
Q: When can the selling and buying start?
You can start selling and buying games this holiday when we launch Xbox LIVE Community Games.
Q: What can developers do right now to get their games ready?
When Xbox LIVE Community Games ships later this year, we will only accept XNA Game Studio 3.0 submissions. Since 3.0 isn’t out yet, our Community Games Beta is using XNA Game Studio 2.0. The best way to get started is to use XNA Game Studio 2.0 now to create games and submit them to the Beta, so you can learn how the submit and review process works.
Learn how to install XNA Game Studio 2.0 and set up your Premium membership here, so you can get started making your community games.
If you'd like to preview some of the new features of XNA Game Studio 3.0, you can download the 3.0 technical preview here. It installs side-by-side with XNA Game Studio 2.0, so you can keep working on your community games in 2.0 while previewing the 3.0 changes.
There’s also a great opportunity to create a game and win prizes: Dream-Build-Play 2008. We’re giving away $75,000 in prize money. Four of last year’s Dream-Build-Play entrants ended up with Xbox LIVE Arcade contracts for their games. You can learn more about the contest at www.dreambuildplay.com.
And, be sure to check the XNA Creators Club Online website at creators.xna.com for Xbox LIVE Community Games announcements as we get closer to holiday!
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