I will devloping a game using the XNA Studio. The game will not be comercial this is just a freeware game that people will be able to download from the internet. if the game will be freeware do I need to pay money?
+2
A:
Well I suggest you have a look at the XNA Express using C#. You will need to pay $99AUD (Don't know the USD price) to get access to loading the game onto your Xbox. However you can't sell it at all, I believe you can put the source up so that other XNA peepz can play your game though.
If you want to make an actual arcade game you need the real SDK which costs a wee bit of money and comes preloaded on an apple powermac :D.
EDIT:
I stand pleasantly corrected by @JohnRudy. It appears microsoft decided that people might want to get compensation or at least some playtime out of their arcade games. I'm glad they've removed the draconian restrictions on getting your game into the arcade.
Spence
2009-09-23 21:32:44
No longer 100% true -- XNA-built games actually can be sold on XBox Live now. However, I don't know if they can be distributed for free on XBL. :) See: http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2008/07/22/introducing-xbox-live-community-games.aspx
John Rudy
2009-09-23 21:36:59
Just to clarify what's already been said. You need a premium membership to create games for Xbox 360 (more information here: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/membership) and you can price it at either 200 (unless it's over 50MB), 400 or 800 MS points. You could just release the source-code if you want it to be freeware, but people would need a premium membership to run it on the Xbox 360.
Tchami
2009-09-24 00:21:49
It's no longer 200, 400, 800. The price points have changed to 80, 240, 400. You can't give your game away for free completely although you do get 50 free copies of the game to give away.
smack0007
2009-09-24 14:00:37
Also register here (http://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/default.aspx) to have a free 1-year subscription to test your game on the xbox 360!
Jodi
2009-09-25 14:40:23
+1
A:
So bottom line is: for Xbox 360, no you cannot create a freeware game that is distributed via XBL. You can release the source and others can download and run it on the Xbox, but it will cost both you and the end user money since you would both need a Creators Club membership.
For the PC though you are free to develop and distribute as you wish.
Peter Lillevold
2009-09-24 08:30:08
If you write a game for the 360, release the code via the web, I can download the code and deploy it to my 360 without having to have a membership. You cannot distribute the game via XBL without a creator's club membership (currently $99 year).
Casey
2009-11-14 19:29:43
@Casey - no, you cannot deploy apps to the 360 without having the Creates Club membership.
Peter Lillevold
2009-11-16 18:13:42