Microsoft to add support for making Xbox One games with XNA-based MonoGame

Xbox One game developers will soon have some new tools to make new titles. Microsoft announced today, as part of their Game Developers Conference 2016 plans, that support for the MonoGame tools will be added soon for making Xbox One games.

MonoGame uses Microsoft's XNA 4 programming interface framework as its basis. Microsoft officially ended support for XNA some time ago, but MonoGame launched an open source implementation of XNA 4 in 2009. Since then MonoGame has been used to help make a number of games for many different platforms, including Windows 8, Windows Phone and others

In a blog post today, Microsoft stated:

"Microsoft's XNA programming framework isn't supported natively on Xbox One, but there's an open source solution for developers called MonoGame. This news is a little overdue, but we're stoked that MonoGame support will be coming to Xbox One soon, thanks to Tom Spilman and our friends at Sickhead Games."

The first Xbox One game that was made with MonoGame will be the retro-themed side-scroller Axiom Verge. The game, which was created by just one person, Tom Happ, as a side project while he also worked at Petroglyph Games, will be released for Microsoft's console later this year.

John Callaham