Schappert will be presenting the session, “A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Community” during GDC on February 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. PST in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center's South Hall.
The session will delve into Microsoft’s efforts to “democratize” game development through Xbox Live and XNA development tools. For many months, the software giant has been evangelizing the possibilities of a platform that will allow developers of all skill levels to create games that would be shared with the console gaming public.
XNA boss Chris Satchell has repeatedly expressed his desire to create a “YouTube for Games” on consoles.
A statement from event organizers CMP Group said that the session will “set the strategy for Xbox 360 this upcoming year, revealing top developers' plans for the platform in 2008.”
It’s quite possible that Microsoft will use GDC as a platform to announce big plans for its “YouTube of Games.” Satchell confirmed to Next-Gen in December that Microsoft is actively working on a user-generated games project, and that details would be revealed in early 2008.
"Xbox 360 will still have triple-A games, will still have Xbox Live Arcade games, but will also have this whole 'Community Arcade' idea," Satchell said at the time.
Schappert is a well-established industry vet. He founded Tiburon Entertainment, which became EA Tiburon, home of Madden NFL. Schappert joined Microsoft in August 2007, where he oversees Xbox Live, Games for Windows—Live, XNA game development tools, MSN Games, Windows Live Messenger and Windows games.
"The Game Developers Conference is the premiere stage for industry leaders to present their strategies for advancing the state of the art of games," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of GDC in a statement. "Given John's experience and the Microsoft game development team behind him, we are confident that our attendees will not want to miss this glimpse into the future of how games will be made."
