So it looks like being able to run the player created games on your Xbox 360 will require a yearly subscription fee. I guess this is not all that surprising as it helps limit the amount of problems that could occur from running unsigned code.
I had wondered how Microsoft is going to make the Xbox 360 safe with all this player generated content, but I still don’t see exactly how they are going to do that.
Here is a snip from the Official XNA Blog:
That is the part of the announcement that I expect will get the most attention, however, I want to emphasize that this is a program that will help you learn and develop games in general. Following the path we explored at GDC when we gave away the source code and art to the game MechCommander, we will continue to give away working examples of games that can run on either platform. You’ll be able to get the first one when you download the (windows only) beta of the tools in September.
After GDC in spring, someone correctly pointed out that opening the Xbox 360 would be a tough business model for us, as Microsoft, to support because of the economic realities of the game console business. They were right. Running unsigned code on your Xbox 360 will require a yearly subscription of $99.00. The tools Windows runtimes will be free of charge. The subscription allows us to open up the console within the bounds of the Xbox business model, invest in interesting sample games, and keep the program going.
I am not too sure I’d want to pay another $100 a year just to play games people have made. I doubt anything created for the PC will have such a hefty fee attached to it.