Corvillus

Joystiq asks an interesting question here. Personally, I think that Xbox 360 XNA has the potential of being a successful platform for developers because it makes the barrier to entry low. Anyone with an Xbox 360 can now develop software for it with this new kit, and it’s an inexpensive software purchase. This is in contrast to Sony’s offerings: the Net Yaroze (which required you to buy a whole new PlayStation just to develop software on, you were limited to the size of the memory card for your game, and only Yaroze PlayStations could run it), and the PS2 Linux Kit (which require the purchase of an overpriced mouse, keyboard, hard drive and Sony customized version of RedHat, and just like the Yaroze, would only work on other PS2’s equipped with the kit). Microsoft could succeed here if they do this right. However, there are a few things that need to be done for that to happen.

The barrier to entry must be low

Microsoft is doing a fairly good job of this right now, although making the tools free would be better. But this is Microsoft we’re talking about here, so I suppose we should be happy with what we can get. (Sony, if you’re listening, make your development tools free.)

The indie developers should be treated first class, just like the large publishing houses

This means that Microsoft should give the indie developers a full toolkit and set of API’s. Indie developers should have access to the same tools that the large publishing houses do, and therefore should have the potential to make the same quality of games. One of the big problems with Sony’s offerings was that their development kits were stripped down; they were not full toolkits.

Indie developers should be given the tools to market their games to the public without having to pay huge royalties to a publisher or Microsoft

This could easily be done by setting up a distribution system through Xbox Live Arcade, and would actually be the smartest way to do it. A developer could offer up their game for free, or they could charge a developer set price per download. Microsoft could make money off of it by charging a transaction fee for each paid transaction, or taking a 10% cut or something from each sale. This move would be a win-win for both Microsoft and the indie developer, because the developer now has an avenue to sell his or her product, and Microsoft now has another source of revenue. In addition, if a game does well on the Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft can recruit the developer to produce boxed games under the Microsoft brand and give the developer a full studio and development team to work with. This would give them an innovative edge in the gaming market.

If Microsoft can do all of these things (or maybe even just some of them), they could make this project a huge success. I will definitely be keeping an eye on how this develops.

In response to: Will Xbox 360 XNA succeed where Sony failed? - Joystiq