According to an internal email from Microsoft, the XNA
development kit is being discontinued and is not currently being worked on.
Microsoft XNA is a development platform that many
independent development teams used to create games for digital distribution.
Many games like Fez, Basion, and Dust: An Elysian Tail were created using the
XNA platform. It is sad to see a development tool like this be phased out since
many games of that were created with XNA helped define Xbox Live and the indie
game scene. Microsoft has not yet announced whether a new development tool is
in production as a successor to XNA, but hopefully they are waiting for some
conference or larger announcement to release more information.