Would Microsoft publish an XNA game on XBLA?

UltimateWalrus · 2007-08-06T13:00:19

Before you say anything, yes, I know about the Dream-Build-Play contest. This is what got me thinking about what it would take to get an XNA game published on Xbox Live Arcade. I am a very novice game developer. I have developed a couple small DirectX games and a one-tenth finished GameBoy Advance game. I also made a bunch of games in Multimedia Fusion (a point-and-click easy 2D game building environment) when I was a kid, and still play around with it from time to time. I am just about to start attending the University of Southern California, where I will work on a degree in CS Games. This, I hope, will give me the skill I would need to build more professional games. This is my impression of the current state of XNA, however idealistic and inexperienced it may be: Suppose I were to make a complete XNA game using the tools that Microsoft has provided. The game would be "more or less" complete, perhaps with little holes where I currently had no means to implement certain features. For example: there would be a space for an online scoreboard, but it wouldn't necessarily be implemented yet. Online multiplayer might be functional on a PC, but it couldn't yet take advantage of the Xbox 360's online framework. Now I realize that I might need to find a few good contacts in the industry. But suppose I actually managed to get an appointment with some Microsoft representatives, in which I could show them the game and politely suggest that it be published on Xbox Live Arcade. Let's suppose that the game is very fun, original, professional, fleshed out, in the spirit of Xbox Live Arcade, and capable of supporting the standard features that are in all Xbox Live games (Achievements, etc.). Would they really turn down a practically-finished Xbox Live Arcade game? After all, it likely costs them close to nothing to distribute these games online. There's not really much to risk. I don't see my idea as being that unreasonable --- or am I missing something? The whole concept of the "Dream-Build-Play" contest is to take hundreds of games made on XNA, and narrow them down to a single game, which Microsoft may publish on XBLA. This is a great prize, and I think I would enter if they were to run the same contest in the future. However, what are really the chances that my game will be picked out of the hundreds? I realize that it isn't exactly random chance --- but think about it. Even if my game is more fun than the majority of Xbox Live Arcade games being sold, there's still a good chance that one of the hundreds of contestants will have made a game that is "better" in the judge's eyes (keep in mind that good gameplay is "in the eyes of the beholder"). There is certainly no guarantee that the judges would pick my game over any other finalist. All the effort spent on making the game could be --- at least somewhat --- wasted. Can anyone confirm that my approach is at least more viable than trying to win a contest? After all, I already have one contact in the industry (I'll withhold his name here for Google-search reasons), who is the owner of a company making a full-fledged Xbox 360 game. I'm sure this would help me greatly in trying to get an appointment with Microsoft. Just to clarify, I don't actually have a game, and I'm just learning XNA. I'm talking about future plans here. Thanks for listening! ---UltimateWalrus

Games Business and Law Business

Started by UltimateWalrus August 05, 2007 01:49 PM

10 comments, last by UltimateWalrus 17 years, 6 months ago

paulecoyote

1,065

August 06, 2007 09:24 AM

Publishing a game requires lots of hoops to be jumped through. From a technology point of view, Microsoft is NOT going to discourage people developing for it's XNA platform, the fact that there are planned XNA things for Visual Studio *Professional*, and that the whole dream build play competition is about getting an XNA title on live... means they are investing in it.

The leading question seems to be, "if I happen to make something really cool while learning XNA, would MS publish it?". Who knows! Your choice in XNA I don't think would be a negative factor though!

Anything posted is personal opinion which does not in anyway reflect or represent my employer. Any code and opinion is expressed “as is” and used at your own risk – it does not constitute a legal relationship of any kind.

UltimateWalrus

Author

229

August 06, 2007 01:00 PM

Thank you very much for all of your replies, encouraging and discouraging!

Maybe I'm just a little too "eager" right now. I think that learning XNA would be a valuable skill, regardless of whether my game actually got published or not. My dad keeps saying that it would also be an excellent way to learn multi-core programming. As tsloper suggested, it might be better to focus on just building my portfolio instead of trying to dive headfirst into the games industry, especially while I'm in school.

One great thing about XNA is that it works on both PC and Xbox 360. So, if I learn XNA, I can build cross-compatible PC/Xbox 360 games to fill my portfolio with while I am in school! And the better quality/quantity in my portfolio, the better off I will be, regardless of whether they get published or not! :)

And, if I ever do want to try and shoot for XBLA or a PC publisher, I could always just whip a game out from my portfolio :)

And even when XBLA dies, I'll still be able to put the game on PC.

BTW, thank you NickGravelyn for that link! That'll be an excellent resource if I ever do find myself with a completed XNA game engine.

Ultimate Walrus Games

Would Microsoft publish an XNA game on XBLA?

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