And now, Microsoft is planning on releasing a community friendly and casual version of the framework and environment called
XNA Game Studio Express. Much like the express version of Microsoft's other development studio, Visual Studio 2005 (which is the groundwork for this studio), this flavor of
XNA Studio will be free for Windows development. Satchell made a point to say several times that this is to really help that 10 year-old kid who has an idea create their first game and show it to their friends.
And while development for the PC is free, there is still the possibility of developing a game for the 360 console. Users can buy a $99 a year subscription that will allow them membership into the Creators Club where their projects can be fully realized and brought to the Xbox.
What Microsoft hopes will come from this more accessible game development environment is communities that not only create developers, but also allow people to share their games, like You Tube, and extend the penetration video games have in the general economy. Satchell pointed out that in the last couple of years, the video game industry has almost doubled in the amount of revenue it generates, but the market penetration has stayed at 36%.
"This means we aren't getting any new people to buy our products, just the same ones. So we are having them pay more and more money; eventually, they will run out," he said.
