Microsoft to digitally distribute PC game titles
In addition to new Windows Live social-networking features, Microsoft will soon be offering digital distribution of PC game titles.
Chris Early, general manager of games for Windows Live, confirmed in an interview with Shacknews that Microsoft has definite plans to distribute full PC titles through its Marketplace application, taking on market leader Steam.
This is a very smart move by Microsoft, though I would have expected the company to have either bought its way into the market or to have made PC game distribution a bigger part of its online footprint already.
If you consider the vast number of PCs that run Windows and then look at the number of PC games sold every year, Microsoft already has the dominant platform. This approach will further cement games into the Windows user base.
Steam and Valve have done a fantastic job at defining the way these distribution services work as well as innovating new ways to store user settings and data in the cloud. These advanced features will be difficult for Microsoft to catch-up to. But considering they own the underlying operating system, they should be able to do so.
Of course, Microsoft should also be able to fix bugs in less than seven years.
CrunchGear, however, is underwhelmed:
It'll be hard for Microsoft: Steam is a much stronger brand than Games for Windows Live, a faceless concept that evokes imperialist Microsoft tendencies and the vast, flaccid tentacles of their Live services. The only way they can make this little adventure work is by shoehorning themselves in, as they have suggested they will do with Fallout 3 DLC, and forcing a market presence. It's a certainty that they can't beat Valve, but with the amount of clout they've got, they're guaranteed at least a spot in the lineup.
Windows Live remains a bit "spray and pray" as Microsoft tries to make the services relevant and consistent. Gaming is something that Microsoft has gotten good at and the locked-in user base should be an easy target.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
Talk about understatement! Microsoft has consistently produced some of the best and most stable games going all the way back to the 1980s. Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, Age of Empires, and many more are games that have been top-notch for many, many years. And the brand is Games for Windows, not Games for Windows Live. Perhaps your source at CrunchGear should only be quoted when they can bothered to do some fact checking.
"Steam and Valve have done a fantastic job at defining the way these distribution services work as well as innovating new ways to store user settings and data in the Cloud. These advanced features will be difficult for Microsoft to catch-up to..."
Huh? Microsoft has been digitally selling games and other software on Windows Marketplace for 2 years now. You can't download every game but many of them you can. Games that have the Digital Locker icon can be purchased and immediately downloaded through the Digital Locker client that has been included with Vista since day 1. So, it's not like they have to build up a Steam-like infrastructure. They just need to hook into the one they've built.
"Dave Rosenberg is currently working on a new stealth start-up based in San Francisco."
I wonder if this snarky article might be written by someone who is now competing with Microsoft.
Microsoft has plenty of leverage to be successful. They have a console that they can have interoperabilitiy with along with various devices such as cell phones. They are a gaming developers, so that would help them push that initiative. I'm not quite such how much they want to succeed in the PC market since they probably make more money in the console and software arena. I mean, if they dropped gears of war 3 on 360 and PC, they would kind of canibalize the 360. They should however realize that there is benifits to both. Some games work better on PC (RTS) , some on console (3rd person) and some work just as well on both (first person).
Steam is great, but there is so much room to improve and push the application so much further. They could do for digial distribution for games, what itunes does for music. Simply put. They just need to dedicate the engineering resources to it. I love the idea.
I can't remember the last time I typed any program from a book, and I don't think I ever did an MS one that way.
Disks and CDs are digital too.. I think you mean ONLINE distribution.
I personally prefer the PC and am REALLY enjoying Fallout3 delivered by Steam. As a user I really don't care who delivers it, it's just nice not to have to go get the game.
Only problem is I can't resell the game on eBay.
- by The_Decider November 13, 2008 10:07 AM PST
- "Gaming is something that Microsoft has gotten good at"
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- by ckurowic November 13, 2008 12:01 PM PST
- Exactly right about DX10 and Vista. I actually installed Vista just for DX10, guess what? It doesn't make UT3 look any different. Wooooooow!! (Yes my video card supports DX10).
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(13 Comments)There is a lot of irony in that statement.
They buy top notch game studios and leave them alone. That is why MS games are much better than anything else MS produces.
DirectX is a bloated joke, openGL is gaining momentum(most PC games are also available for Mac). None of the top game engine writers are interested in DX10, which is really just something to try and force people to go to Vista.