Microsoft to abandon XNA Game Studio

[garyopa]

The development environment powering Xbox Live Indie Games.

Microsoft has confirmed it has 'no plans' at present for future versions of XNA; will not phase out DirectX.

It looks like Microsoft has no plans to produce future versions of its XNA development tool.

If you didn't know, the XNA development framework has been used to code games for release through Xbox Live, Windows Phone marketplace and any Windows-based devices, and it's pretty popular among indie developers...

“XNA Game Studio remains a supported toolset for developing games for Xbox 360, Windows and Windows Phone,” a Microsoft representative told Polygon.

“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.”

Thankfully, and after some rumors, it looks like DirectX is safe and sound...

"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.

XNA was used for Supergiant Games' Bastion and Polytron's Fez as well as a number of Microsoft Studios-published titles, including recent release Skulls of the Shogun and Dust: An Elysian Tail.

NEWS SOURCE #1: Microsoft has no plans for future versions of XNA software (via) PolyGon
NEWS SOURCE #2: Microsoft confirms XNA no longer in active development (via) VG247

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[tech3475]

I'm guessing MS just weren't making enough money for them to think it's worth it. Considering the way they've been treating indie games I'm not surprised by this move.

Unless it's expired I've still got my old Dreamspark code for a years XNA (never used it).

[mattias800]

Or they're just doing something completely new.
They should just add support for Unity and be done with it