Oh, Project Spark. So much potential, seemingly wasted. But Microsoft is giving us a reason to consider going back to map and level creating October 5th, as they announced that Project Spark will be giving away all their content for free. In a rather surprising move, they’re also going to give a refund to everyone who purchased any of the premium content. While paid content isn’t the only problem facing Project Spark, the paywall was the main thing which dissuaded many from jumping into their creation game. So what happens now?

Well, here are a few of the changes listed:

The maximum terrain limit in creations has been doubled
The maximum prop limit in creations has been increased by 500
200+ new assets have been added in game, including a dragon, goblin warlord, bog biome and a set of new primitive building blocks
Each creator will now have a total of 100 Upload Slots for their creations
UGC ranking will be based on downloads and favorites, instead of upvote/downvote ratings
The Project Spark Marketplace has been removed
The Project Spark Tour and Treasure Trove have been removed
Achievements have been revamped for players and creators

Project Spark: What it is, and why you should care

Project spark is a world creation game, where you can choose a variety of resources, and design various types of worlds. Unlike Minecraft, you can create dynamic worlds, which play out more like levels or missions in games. Not only do you use existing set-pieces to create your worlds, however, but you can actually make your own, or tweak object behavior, to even adding in audio. The possibilities are virtually limitless, whether for game or even movie creation. Unfortunately, whether due to microtransactions, Microsoft’s marketing strategy, or something else, Project Spark has failed to achieve widespread use, and failed to ignite the imaginations of gamers-at-large.

Is this the end, or the beginning?

Microsoft noted that they will be turning more of a focus to promoting user-created content, while creating less of their own DLC. While that suggests Microsoft is abandoning the game, one would hope that, with all content being available to all creators, perhaps more people will give the game a try, and existing users might be able to create more compelling content. Even if people don’t use it for gameplay, per se, given how popular movies made in-game have become, don’t be surprised if you see a few more videos made in Project Spark.

And what if you’re one of the people who purchased content for Project Spark? You should be receiving a Microsoft Store credit within the next 30-60 days, apparently without having to do anything to trigger the credit.

If you happen to currently play Project Spark, or you decide to give it a whirl now that all the creation tools are free, let us know what you think.