Singapore-based games developers will now be able to create and upload games onto the Xbox LIVE Community Games platform, as well as apply for a S$50,000 grant from the Media Development Authority under the MDA-Microsoft XNA Development Initiative.
Xbox LIVE Community Games, first announced at GDC 2008, allows consumers to create games using the XNA Game Studio toolkit then submit the games for publication on the Xbox LIVE Community Games channel.
The introduction of Community Games in Singapore will allow locally developed games to be purchased and played by some 14 million Xbox LIVE users worldwide. One such game, CarneyVale: Showtime – developed by a team of Singaporean students from the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab – is now available on Community Games for 400 MS Points, or about S$8.
Alan Chou, Regional Marketing Manager for Xbox, described Community Games as enabling game developers to bring their games from “concept to cash” with minimal barriers to entry. The XNA Game Studio development toolkit is available online for free, while actual uploading of any games requires an active XNA Creators Club Premium membership, costing US$99 for one year. 70% of sales revenue is kept by the developers.
As part of the Xbox LIVE Games Community rollout in Singapore, MDA will be providing a grant of up to $50,000 to local companies and individuals to develop games for the platform. Under the terms of the MDA-Microsoft Developer Initiative grant, MDA only requires developers to credit its assistance, with all revenue from the game and intellectual property rights to the game to remain with the developers.
Have your say. Add your comments: