Xbox Live Community Games Will Be Free for All Users

Last week, Microsoft announced that it plans to make user-created Xbox 360 games available for download through the console's online service, but it forgot to say how much money will the users have to pay for these games. Now they have made all the info available, thanks to Shacknews: all the games created under the Xbox Live Community Games program will be available for free for all the Xbox users, including the Silver Members.

Don't get too excited right now since Dave Mitchell, Director of Microsoft XNA game platform marketing cautiously said that the decision "may change closer to launch". And it is a good decision to make that statement since, as strange as it might sound, indie game developers might not be very receptive when it comes to working for free - game creator Phil Fish said: "I wouldn't like to give a year of work away just because Microsoft allows us to do it."

However, this is a tough decision to make, nevertheless: if Microsoft decides to require some cash for the XNA games it might not have the expected success and paying each developer part of that money would probably might prove to be a hard thing to do. On the other hand, in order to develop these indie games for the Xbox 360, people will have to spend $99 per year for the XNA Game Studio software or be an XNA Creators Club member. Not to mention the amount of time needed to be invested in video games, if something good is to come out. Tough call, really.

On the other hand, the Xbox Live Arcade service is proving to be quite a hit for the Xbox, according to Microsoft, who recently announced the winners of the inaugural XBLA Awards and said that the number of players on Live Arcade has grown 145 percent last year. So, as you can see, there is a market, as there is a market for everything. Stay tuned for more details!