As of next week, creating and uploading your games in Project Spark won’t cost you a penny. Microsoft has announced that as of October 5th, the virtual game creation toolset will be pulling the plug on its micro-transaction model and beginning life anew as a free, open creation model. As a result, the Project Spark Tour and the Project Spark Marketplace have both been effectively removed along with the Treasure Trove in accordance with the game’s new business model.
In addition, Project Spark will also be receiving a number of updates that same day, including doubling the size of its creations’ terrain and increasing its prop limit to 500, while creators will have 100 Upload slots to choose from. UGC ranking will further be based on downloads and favorites as opposed to the game’s upvote/downvote ratings. Finally, Project Spark will be welcoming over 200 new in-game assets next month, including a dragon, a goblin warlord, a bog biome, and a building blocks.
If you’ve already put down good money on Project Spark, fear not. Anyone who paid for or activated any content for Project Spark on or after July 28th, 2015 will be entitled to receive Microsoft Store credit equal to however much they spent. The credit will be applied to accounts 30 to 60 days after October 5th.
Tell us, are you happy to see Project Spark going the free-to-play route? Sound off below with your thoughts.