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Microsoft cans indie development suite

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XNA

I remember a few years back when Microsoft announced their new video game development suite, XNA. I was going to become the next great video game developer and finally break the corporate shackles that bound me to a life of cubicle hell…

Well that didn’t end up happening and now that flicker of a dream has been destroyed by Microsoft with their announcement that they will no longer be enhancing or patching their XNA product.

“Presently the XNA Game Studio is not in active development and DirectX is no longer evolving as a technology. Given the status within each technology, further value and engagement cannot be offered to the MVP community. As a result, effective April 1, 2014 XNA/DirectX will be fully retired from the MVP Award Program.”

But at least they did manage to get a dig into my failures before closing off

“Many developers have found financial success creating Xbox LIVE Indie Games using XNA. However, there are no plans for future versions of the XNA product.”

Those many obviously didn’t include me…

Oh and before you panic, despite them saying that DirectX is no longer evolving they did clarify and state that

“Microsoft is actively investing in DirectX as the unified graphics foundation for all of our platforms, including Windows, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone,” the representative said. “DirectX is evolving and will continue to evolve. We have absolutely no intention of stopping innovation with DirectX.

So XNA is dead but DirectX is still here to stay.

The worrying sign here though is that it sounds like indie games are not going to be receiving any love from Microsoft on the next Xbox – and while this won’t affect many people it does make me a little sad inside.

Last Updated: February 4, 2013

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