XNA Community Games pricing, marketing structure detailed

No achievements? No sale. I'll stick with the free demos...

Let me be the first to say that it is L-A-M-E that developers will not have the choice to make there games free...

If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like Xav got the "Microsoft to share up to 70%" a little backwards.

From the information provided by Microsoft, it sounds like they're saying that developers will keep 80 to 90 percent of sales unless Microsoft's promotion helps sell above a certain threshold. In that event, Microsoft takes a 30% cut of the pie.

In other words, it would be more accurate to say that Microsoft will share up to 90% of sales profit.

No cheevos!!??! What's that all about?!

Time to buy myself a new pc and give this XNA a try.
surely, It can't be that hard.

This is a step in the right direction. Now, if only it were a set 70-percent of profits to developers.

It seems odd that MS would structure their pricing based on the size of the game. Is there a correlation between the quality of the game and the size of it? Does a bigger game mean a better game? I'm sure that there are tons of shitty larger games and vice versa. Maybe the pricing has more to do with the cost to MS for hosting/bandwidth. The larger games cost MS more to host and allow for download therefore they charge the developer more. Will this pricing model cause developers to add more (sometimes crappy) content just to increase the size of the game and the price? Will a game that should be $2.50 be packed with a developer diary of photos and junk? It seems to me that the pricing should be based on the quality of the game and not the size.

As a side note, I don't understand why people are so hung up on achievements. Seriously, who cares? It's interested to see that you've reached certain milestones in a game but what's it really worth other than "bragging rights" and showing others how big your "E-Penis" is because you have no life and spend days getting achievements that hold no real world value. Actually, I would say that achievements are almost a direct correlation to your life. How many guys with a girlfriend/wife/job/life are racking up tons of achievement points. It's obviously important to some people though so whatever.

Question..
what if i'm a member of the xna creators club.. I have to pay my fee plus the cost of the game on top of that?

that question aside. the pricing isn't that bad, plus you'd be supporting indie developers without much financial support.

Meh, wont bother. Nothing major will come out of it. The Live arcade is mostly full of shit, XNA isn't going to be any better.

I am very excited for XNA, I'm looking forward to some more unusual and experimental games. The PSN seems to have it right with their mix of quirky small titles, and I'm hoping the community can deliver some nice alternatives to traditional games.

I believe this will produce excellent games. When people get paid to do something they do it good.

@MrMuggs: I would have thought the opposite would be true, regarding developers 'bloating' their games to reach the higher price point.

Surely they'd rather sell 1million copies @ 200msp than 500k at 400msp or whatever. A developer, especially a new one, would much rather their game gets maximum exposure than maximum profits? That can come later, when you've got a couple of XNA hits under your belt ;o)

Or maybe I'm just living in an utopian fantasy world where money doesn't ALWAYS talk!

NEW GAME IS DEVELOPED AT MAKERERE UNIVERSITY UGANDA
TO BE PRESENTED IN NIROBI KENYA
ON 11-09-2008 FOR THE INTER-UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE COMPITION