By: Chris Charla and Andy Dunn

Post Time: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 5:17 p.m. PT

At Xbox, we have seen firsthand the magic that independent developers can bring to gamers worldwide. The reception to ID@Xbox on Xbox One has been fantastic, with more than 1,000 developers with kits in hand working on the next generation of games for Xbox One and Windows 10. As much as we are excited about what is ahead, it is important to us that we acknowledge and celebrate the path it took to get here – while taking the next step forward together with the community.

Today we communicated to developers that we’re beginning the sunsetting process for the XNA Creator’s Club and Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) on Xbox 360. We’re working to ensure the process is as smooth as possible and to minimize any impact for developers who are still working on XBLIG games for Xbox 360.

• As of today, we’ve stop taking new subscriptions or membership renewals, but we’ll ensure that current members who are still working on games have any memberships that expire “topped off” until September 9, 2016. After that date we’ll no longer allow new games to be published. All creators with a valid subscription as of today will receive a free lifetime Windows Developer account (normally $99).
• In September 2017, we’ll stop selling XBLIG games, close the store and pay out all money earned by developers. Of course, players will still be able to re-download games they own and continue to play the games they own.
• Longer term, over the next two years we’ll be working with game conservationists and creators to preserve the legacy of XBLIG content. We look forward to sharing more details in the future.

XBLIG is where many great developers got their start, and “diversity” doesn’t even begin to describe the incredible variety of games that creators made on XBLIG. So seeing the end come into view is definitely bittersweet. But it’s also a great time to reflect on the legacy of XBLIG. Not just what it accomplished, but how far the game industry has come in the nine years since the first beta of XNA Game Studio was released in August 2006.

In 2006, video games – especially console games – were a closed shop. You needed to work at a company and know someone to even have a chance of seeing a dev kit, never mind releasing a game. At Xbox, we started with the vision that anyone could create console games. XNA and XBLIG were our first attempts to open up the closed console world – to let students, hobbyists, and anyone with a great idea make games and publish them without needing a studio or even a business license. Over the last nine years, we have seen many great developers get their start in XBLIG and we are very proud of all that has been accomplished. Developers who came from all backgrounds and all walks of life and were able to make console video games.

As I look back, I feel the vision of the original creators of the program has been completely proven out by subsequent events. Games are a hugely important art form and the torch of democratizing game development has been carried on with amazing tools such as Unity, GameMaker, and Unreal Engine.

On Xbox and Windows 10, ID@Xbox is a spiritual successor of XBLIG, offering platform and Xbox Live access on console and Windows 10 to independent creators of all sizes and scale. Anyone today can sign up for a Windows Developer Account and start making games today using the tools I mentioned earlier and more. Creators have more platforms they can ship on today than ever before, and more and better tools to help them every day – and our priority is ensuring that we give independent developers the support they need to take the next step with us towards the future of gaming.

The last word in this blog belongs to Andy Dunn of ZBuffer, who has done more for the XNA and XBLIG community than anyone on earth, from the earliest days to the present. He’s been a Microsoft MVP supporting XNA and XBLIG for years, wrote several of the early demos, a couple of indie games including “Kissy Poo” and just released what might be one of the final XNA XBLA games “Guncraft: Blocked and Loaded”:

I remember being asked to come into Microsoft for a possible contract job. It was a C# gig for the Xbox team and I wasn’t really interested. I had recently quit Microsoft to make games and I knew that nobody used C# to make games on consoles. A friend told me he couldn’t say any more, but it would be worth my while, so I went along. I suspect I then sat with my mouth wide open when they told me that not only could I use C# to write Xbox 360 games, but there would be a storefront to sell your games. Remember this was 2006 – there was no concept of an open App Store and certainly nothing like it on a console. “Why yes of course I was interested in writing some demos and starter kits… of course I can keep it secret till August.”

The last nine years of my career all started from that meeting. I’ve worked with lots of people besides Microsoft using XNA; and since then, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at conferences, teach at universities, make games and meet some (hopefully) lifelong friends. And tens of thousands of others had the same opportunities. Careers have been founded, millions have been made and in at least one case, a marriage occurred! The XNA/XBLIG community is easily the best set of people I’ve had the pleasure to be on the internet with. The forums were full of Microsoft employees and knowledgeable experts mixing with total n00bs wanting to write their own MMO. I know the mods were not always popular but we made sure they were a great place for almost everyone.

We’ve known the end was coming for a while, and thankfully two years notice is plenty of time for those still in progress. Many of the XNA people have moved onto Unity, Unreal and other gaming tools. The XNA style of programming lives on cross platform with MonoGame for those who wish to continue, and the knowledge we all
got is still a valuable skill.

Thanks for the good times Microsoft - we may not all have an XNA tattoo, but XNA and Xbox Live Indie Games were a huge part of many people’s lives. 

Please use ONLY one of these three subject lines, as we will use these to filter responses. If you have
multiple issues please send one issue per email:

• ACCOUNT/LOGIN PROBLEM - <Username>
• PAYMENT PROBLEM - <Username>
• OTHER SUPPORT REQUEST - <Username> 

In the body of your email include your XBLIG username and any relevant information. Prior to emailing, please be sure to review the Indie
Games FAQ as it may help in resolving your issue as well: http://xbox.create.msdn.com/en-us/home/faq

Thanks!

If you would like to get ahead of the game (pun intended), please send your art to creators@microsoft.com

Thanks!

You can download Monogame for free at http://Monogame.codeplex.com,
Visual Studio Express for Windows 8 and Windows 8 evaluation for FREE from http://dev.windows.com.
For a step by step guide of how to migrate your XNA assets to Windows 8 see http://bit.ly/S3UuGK.
 

If you’re the winner of ‘Power Up’ you will win some amazing
prize, including a free PR campaign, mentoring with industry leaders drawn from
the Boards of UKIE and TIGA and a commercial trailer for your awesome Windows 8
game app. You simply need to ensure game is published in the UK Windows 8 Store
before December 14^th.  Full entry details, terms and conditions
can be found at www.ubelly.com/gaming

Prizes range from free PR for a month, mentoring by industry
veterans, Nokia smartphones, Visa Gift Cards from YoYo Games to name but a few.

The competition is open now and you have until December 14^th,
2012 to enter.

To
be in with the chance of winning one of our fantastic prizes, after
successfully submitting your app to the UK Windows 8 store, follow the steps
below to enter the competition.

Send
the following details to Andrew Webber, UK Marketing Lead for Indie Game App
Builders at andrew@microsoft.com

• Your name
• Studio Name
• Email Address and Phone
       Number
• Name of the Game App
• Include a copy of your
       Store Certification email for the App you are submitting.

There
is no limit to the number of entries, all entries need to be received by
11.59PM GMT 14^th December 2012.

Go here to see the winners: https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx

Xbox 360:

A Pixel Escape

Italy

Apple Jack 2

United Kingdom

Bleed

Canada

Brand

Canada

Chibis Bomba

France

Chompy Chomp Chomp

United Kingdom

Dead Pixels

United Kingdom

Diehard Dungeon

United Kingdom

Divided

United Kingdom

Face-Plant Adventures

Germany

We appreciate your patience during the upgrade work.

Higher maximum CCGAME size

Since the start of Xbox LIVE Indie Games, CCGAME bundles submitted for Xbox LIVE Indie Games were limited to a maximum size of 150MB. We’ve heard all the great feedback on this subject and today we are pleased to inform you that developers are now able to submit CCGAME bundles up to 500MB through App Hub for publishing on Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

New limit for 80 point games

Another area we’re adjusting today is the requirement that titles larger than 50MB be priced at either 240 or 400 points. After raising our maximum size we’ve decided to also raise this limit. Starting today you can apply the 80 point price to any game with a CCGAME size under 150MB, which is three times the current limit of 50MB.

More titles per developer

The last change affects a fewer number of developers, but we still believe it’s an important update. Originally developers were limited to just eight titles on Xbox LIVE Indie Games. When Creators Club became App Hub, we raised the limit up to ten. We’re happy today to let you know that we’re again raising this limit up to twenty titles per developer.

We’re continuing to watch our developer base and adapt the system to the needs of our creators. We hope you’re all as excited as we are to kick off 2012 with these great updates to the App Hub to enable our developers to make even better content for Xbox LIVE Indie Games. If you have any questions or want to discuss these changes, feel free to post in our forum thread.

What does this update mean to you, Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers? To start with, it means a new user interface and organizational and functional changes.

The new user interface uses the Metro style, the same style used by Windows Phone and Windows 8. There also are organizational and functional changes not only to improve, but to enhance, the game experience. 

Today, we want to tell you about changes to the Xbox 360 dashboard we believe will most affect Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers and customers.

Rating from the game library

In the new dashboard, rating a game is easy. There now is a Rate button on the overview page for games that gives gamers quick access to rate the game's content.

The removal of the rate button from the game library in an earlier update generated considerable feedback. Its removal reduced the number of ratings given for Indie Games. We believe the permanent display of the rating button on game overview pages will increase the likelihood that your players will rate your games.

Indie exposure in the game marketplace carousel

When navigating into the game marketplace in the games section, you’ll notice the rotating carousel in the center contains an item for Xbox LIVE Indie Games. Selecting this item takes users to an Indie Games experience containing the Kotaku’s Favorites and Contest Finalists lists, as well as Indie Game specific New Releases and Most Popular lists.

This carousel item will help to push your games to even more customers by exposing Xbox LIVE Indie Games from the top level of the marketplace experience. 

Bing search

Over the years, Xbox has become about more than just games. Users can now find music, movies, and television programming on their Xbox 360 consoles. With all this great new content, Bing was added to make it even easier to find what you’re looking for. Users can use Bing search to find marketplace content, including Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

The algorithms and index of content are still being improved, but we believe this exposure of Indie Game content through the Bing search engine makes it even easier for customers to find specific Indie game content without having to manually navigate the dashboard in search of the gem.

Recommendations

Another way Xbox is helping customers find great new content is through smart recommendations. Customers viewing a piece of content can now find recommendations for related games and content that might interest them.

Smart recommendations will help customers find Indie games related to games they already own and enjoy, which should translate into more opportunities for Indie developers.

We are sure each of you is as excited as we are about the new dashboard and can see all the great new ways Indie games have been exposed to our millions of Xbox LIVE subscribers. If you have feedback regarding the dashboard, please use the official Xbox.com forum.