Microsoft To Sell User-Created Video Games
Microsoft's "XNA" initiative first made game-development tools available to the general gaming public in 2006. The XNA tools allowed amateur game-developers to create video games playable on the Xbox, the Microsoft Zune and Windows-based computers.
Currently, prospective game developers must purchase a XNA Creators Club membership for $99 a year in order to upload their games for sale. However, Microsoft will pay developers with a "check every quarter, for up to 70% of the game's total revenue," according to a statement on the XNA Creators Club Web site.
"Not only are we democratizing game development with Xbox LIVE Community Games later this year, but we're creating an opportunity for aspiring developers," Chris Satchell, chief technology officer at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business group, said in a news release.
The user-generated games will have to pass a peer-review system before it will be offered for sale. The user-generated games will be available for sale in the Community Games section in the Xbox Live Marketplace, and user will be able to purchase them using Microsoft points. Games will be sold at point totals equivalent to $2.50, $5, or $10. The Community Games section of the Xbox LIVE Marketplace will come out of beta this fall, Reuters reported.