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Apr 23 / Ozymandias

How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone?

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We’ve seen a lot of excitement around our Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7 announcements. Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7 represents one of our first steps toward enabling consistent identity and rewards (such as Xbox LIVE achievements) across games and platforms, and additional social, connected game experiences with friends. Specifically, we announced that some titles would be able to use Achievements (and associated Gamerscore), 2D Avatars, Leaderboards, and enable asynchronous gameplay. We also recently announced the availability of the Windows Phone Developer Tools, and that’s led to people asking questions about how to access these Xbox LIVE services.

To answer, it’s important to understand that we have a managed portfolio for Xbox LIVE titles on Windows Phone 7. As we looked at how the mobile gaming industry was evolving, it was obvious that there’s a significant problem with the “race to zero” – or having too many, mixed quality titles available on a marketplace. Too many offerings makes it very hard for any specific title to stand out (no matter how high-quality), and negatively impacts the overall business ecosystem by making it almost impossible for developers to earn a fair return on their work. Our goal with the Windows Phone 7 games that utilize Xbox LIVE services is to cultivate a portfolio of high-quality titles that are regularly released – this is very similar to the portfolio management we do for Xbox LIVE Arcade titles.

Anyone can develop any title they wish using the Windows Phone Developer Tools; there’s no obligation or requirement to use Xbox LIVE or other services in those titles. However, titles wishing to use Xbox LIVE services must have a relationship with Microsoft; if you’re interested in being considered for our portfolio (and use of Xbox LIVE services), you can mail wpgames@microsoft.com. If you’ve got the right stuff, we’ll hook you up!

I’ve also received a few questions around how a user logs into Xbox LIVE on the phone, how Silver or Gold works, what the experience is of playing games, inviting friends, etc. I’ll try to gin up a post on that in the next few weeks… in the meanwhile, let me know what else you’re curious about and I’ll try to dig into it with the team!

Related posts:

  1. Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone?
  2. The Three Pillars of Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone
  3. Windows Phone 7 UI Design and Interaction Guide Updated
  4. How do You Sign In with Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7?
  5. It Has Begun! First Sessions on Developing Games for Windows Phone at GDC
Filed under Uncategorized
  • itsafeature

    RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • deeper2k

    RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=15607 Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 only for select few developers

    [...] Vrignaud, Director Games Platform Strategy at Microsoft, has made it clear on his blog that only some titles will receive the honour of XBox Live Integration on Windows phone 7. [...]

  • Mighell

    RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • idloco

    @Ozymandias any chance on releasing a Xbox Live Indie games kind of service for #WP7 #WP7dev?

  • http://www.xbox360digest.com/2010/04/23/restrictions-coming-for-xbox-live-games-on-wp7/ XBOX 360 Digest » Restrictions Coming for Xbox LIVE Games on WP7

    [...] Ozymandias] Categories: Marketplace, Microsoft, Xbox [...]

  • saidin_welder@hotmail.com

    Will it be easy for the end user to tell the difference between the games that are on the Xbox Platform versus those that aren’t? Would this difference be easy to tell in both the marketplace as well as those you already purchased?

  • ai

    RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • http://ozymandias.com Ozymandias

    @saidin_welder: Yes, it will be very easy to tell which titles are using Xbox LIVE – we understand that that is important!

  • http://twitoaster.com/country-us/ozymandias/ Ozymandias

    [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • mwiththeat

    RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone? | Ozymandias | http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-i-use-x... #WP7 #WP7dev

  • idloco

    @Ozymandias ok ok I see, I can´t wait to get my hands on one of those phones! XD also the release of XNA for the RTM version of VS 2010

  • http://twitoaster.com/country-us/ozymandias/ Ozymandias

    @idloco Never say never, but right now we’re 100% focused on releasing Xbox LIVE for Windows Phone 7 this holiday. :)

  • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

    Thanks, Andre! This is exciting stuff.

  • http://www.mobilitydigest.com/high-quality-games-on-wp7-will-stand-out/ Mobility Digest – High Quality Games On WP7 Will Stand Out

    [...] apps for each platform and the real problem is that good apps can’t get recognition this way. In a blog post they summed up the problem as follows: As we looked at how the mobile gaming industry was evolving, [...]

  • http://www.fuzemobility.com/high-quality-games-on-wp7-will-stand-out/ High Quality Games On WP7 Will Stand Out

    [...] apps for each platform and the real problem is that good apps can’t get recognition this way. In a blog post they summed up the problem as follows: As we looked at how the mobile gaming industry was evolving, [...]

  • http://www.dobox.com/ Bruce

    Just wanted to point you to an interesting blog post from Nielsen about future Smartphone market growth in the US. To quote:
    The share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales has increased to 29% for phone purchasers in the last six months and 45% of respondents to a Nielsen survey indicated that their [...]

    Related posts:The Three Pillars of Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone
    Nielsen Top 10 Video Game Console Usage List for 2008
    How Do I Use Xbox LIVE APIs on Windows Phone?

  • http://www.ozymandias.com/how-do-you-sign-in-with-xbox-live-on-windows-phone-7 How do You Sign In with Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7? | Ozymandias

    [...] promised a few weeks ago, I wanted to come back and walk you through the experience of using Xbox LIVE on [...]

  • http://dereklakin.com Derek Lakin

    Is it possible to access the gamertag and 2D avatar that are in the Game Hub from a vanilla Silverlight application?
    Thanks,
    Derek.

  • http://ozymandias.com Ozymandias

    Yep, you absolutely can. Michael Klucher has some more details here on his blog: http://klucher.com/blog/silverlight-and-xna-framework-game-development-and-compatibility/

  • http://technologizer.com/2010/08/12/windows-phone-7-gaming/ Windows Phone 7 Gaming: What We Know So Far

    [...] Live features, such as Achievements and compatibility with the PC and Xbox 360. This divide was first revealed in April and confirmed to me by Michael Klucher, Program Manager Lead on Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio [...]