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I have made an application in XNA that I want to sell on Windows Store. When it comes to uploading in the Windows Store dashboard it says files need to be in the format xap, .appx, .appxbundle or .appxupload but I can't figure out how to create these files. The best information I could find is https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh454036.aspx but I don't have "Store" in my Project menu. I am using Visual Studio 2015 and XNA 4.0.5

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    \$\begingroup\$ You might try rewriting your game as a native C++/DirectX Universal Windows Platform (UWP) project. Or you could wait for the Win32 wrapper Microsoft is working on yo be finished. Applications found on te store no longer have the .exe format. The targeted the UWP API and not the old Win32 API. \$\endgroup\$
    – rlam12
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 2:05

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XNA games aren't directly support in the Windows Store. The "appx" file types are generated when building a Windows Store app (it's one of the project options when you are creating a new project). As "rlam12" mentioned in his comment, there is a Win32 wrapper being worked on that can take a regular .exe and convert it into a Windows Store app. However, this won't be out for some time.

If you want to avoid re-writing your game from scratch into C++/DirectX, you could look into using MonoGame and then build a Windows Store MonoGame project. MonoGame is basically the open source version of XNA from when it stopped development back several years ago. I haven't used MonoGame is a long time, but it should hopefully not be a difficult transition. Here's a link to a short tutorial on how to get started with MonoGame and Windows 10 Store App development:

http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/1015929/XNA-Basics-Windows-and-MonoGame

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It is a little iconic that you need to use the open source alternative to publish on Windows Store. \$\endgroup\$
    – user75635
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 12:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Since XNA hasn't been supported for almost 5+ years, it's not horribly unreasonable. I'm glad MonoGame has come to fill the void of XNA, but it is unfortunate that it has been dropped in favor of things like Unity. \$\endgroup\$
    – SaviorXTanren
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 21:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ XNA Game Studio has a number of limitations that make it unsuited to both the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), Xbox One, and the Windows 8 Store: It uses Direct3D 9 (unsupported), D3DX9 (deprecated), is x86 32-bit only (i.e. no x64 native or ARM), and a number of other technical issues. Monogame, SharpDX/SlimDX, Unity, etc. have all stepped in to fully support C#-based DirectX game development years ago. The ability to support non-Microsoft platforms is also a benefit these alternative solutions provide that XNA Game Studio cannot. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chuck Walbourn
    Commented Jul 27, 2016 at 21:03

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