Michael Klucher's Blog

During my talk on Best Practices for Xbox LIVE Community Games at GDC this year I tried to cover many issues, both technical and non-technical. On the non-technical side one of my tips for driving sales of your game was to leverage the new web marketplace for Xbox LIVE and provide an easy way for your customers to purchase your Xbox LIVE Community Game.

For those of you who might not know about this great feature, the Xbox LIVE Marketplace moved fully online with the addition of the New Xbox Experience (NXE). You can browse the entire catalog of Xbox LIVE marketplace content (including Xbox LIVE Community Games) right from your web browser!

Why the Xbox LIVE web marketplace matters!
The cool feature is that you, or your friends can provide deep links to anyone over the web with an Xbox LIVE account that will allow them to “queue up” the trial version of your game or purchase the full version directly from the web without ever needing to turn on their Xbox 360!

The next time that user logs onto Xbox LIVE from their console, the game will automatically be added to their download queue and delivered to their Xbox 360! This makes it really simple for users to get your game, and for you to drive sales of your game from your website. You don’t have to rely on the user remembering to go back to download your game at a later time, or forgetting the title of the game or anything that may prevent them from giving it a try!

The Data You Need
Getting the data you need couldn’t be simpler, here are some tips to help you out!

1. Log onto web marketplace at: http://marketplace.xbox.com/
2. Search for your Xbox LIVE Community Game using the search box on the page.
   

    

3. Once you find the game, simply copy and use the link that appears in your browsers address bar, this takes users to the main landing site for your game which includes:
   1. The box art, screenshots and description of your game.
   2. All the offers associated with your game (in this case the trial game and full version).

       

Scoping to Specific Offers
If you want to provide different links for the trial game and full version, that’s also very possible, just follow these instructions below!

1. On your game page scroll down to the area where your offers are listed for the trial game and full version. For each offer click the send link button.
   

    

2. Take the link that appears and simply copy it out and use that as your landing URL.
   

    

3. Note that when a user clicks that link, they’ll still see the overall summary page for your game but will only see the offer that you linked to, notice that the user can click the link to the left to see other offers associated with the game (in this case it would be the trial game).
   

   

Achievement Unlocked!
So there you have it, with a little engineering you can provide some easy access to your new Xbox LIVE Community Game and drive downloads and sales through your game’s website, blog, Facebook or Twitter account. It’s that simple. Combine this with a little tutorial magic from around the web and create some nice graphics to go with these links. If you have any questions, leave your comments and I’ll be happy to help.