^^ I agree with the fact that there are commercial games built using XNA, but just XNA isn't enough according to their official site. If you want to make a commercial game you have to sign a deal with MS and then they sell/?/give/ you the remainder of the tools needed to finish the project, the developers still use the XNA tools but if they want to be a commercial title they have to sit down the MS and sort out the details.
The problem I see with that is not everyone is business savvy and a lot of folks will be intimidated by the process and potentially not even bother. I'm not saying that their process doesn't have advantages (ie weeding out some of the crappy projects) but its not exactly a model of accessibility and we really don't know how affordable it is or isn't. With developers coming to them with an almost completed project that can only run on their platform in its current form, MS will have a lot of leverage to use against these smaller, often struggling, companies.
At the same time Nintendo is going to have to deal with some amateurish crap and potentially hold some hands through the localization and ratings processes, so its not like I'm saying their system is top dog either. But it does allow anyone who is at least moderately serious about making a game the opportunity to do so and I think there are going to be some awesome titles that we never would have seen without that accessibility. But most importantly with Nintendo's process you know what the deal is before you start, so long as you make a quality title you will be released and you know the royalty rates and everything up front.
 |
| To Each Man, Responsibility |
