Today, Microsoft announced a new pricing structure for the Xbox Live Indie Games channel (formerly Xbox Live Community Games). Rather than the old 200/400/800 points system (that’s $2.50, $5.00, $10.00 US), the numbers have been updated to 80, 240, and 400 ($1.00, $3.00, $5.00). Only games that are less than 50MB can be priced at $1.00 so ours will most likely be at one of the higher price points, but at least the options are cheaper than they used to be. Hopefully this means more impulse buys. I know I would have bought a few games on there if they had been cheaper.

Also, you can now send out Title Updates for Indie Games much like XBLA and Retail games can do. And last, but not least, developers now get 50 free tokens for their game. This means that 50 people can get a free copy of the game. This is great for sending games to news blogs and such for review, and I’m sure there will be a few contests popping up here and there for these Indie Games.

Looks like Microsoft is getting serious about the indie games channel. Better prices, auto updates, free tokens, and the addition of the rating system that’s coming with the new dashboard update. Can’t wait to get our game finished and on there!