Gabe Newell from Valve was quite right to fear about the future when he starting talking up Linux, and now it looks like Microsoft will be trying to push their own store even more.
Microsoft are moving to combine Windows 10 and Xbox One into one platform, and with that the Windows Store will become a bigger thing for them. This is something Gabe Newell of Valve feared, and it looks like it really is starting to become true. While there's nothing wrong with having universal games that work on W10 and XBone, making sure developers have to stick to their store is a problem.
The problem here, is that Microsoft are using their money and their exclusivity deals to keep certain games only on the Windows Store which locks out Steam in the process. There may not be too many doing it yet, but you can be sure over time Microsoft will sign more of these Windows 10 exclusive deals like they have with Quantum Break. Ars actually put it quite well in their article here:
Steam isn't exactly a picture of freedom, but it is available on the three major operating systems. It's free to sign up for and use with no monthly fee needed. Developers can have their game on Steam as well as any other store. You get to buy once and play on any platform where the game is supported, and so on. Steam in these cases is the lesser of two evils.
Is history about to repeat itself with Games For Windows Live version 2? I doubt it, since the Windows Store is tied in with Windows 10 and with their universal apps it might actually be a success, which again, is trouble for Valve.
I can't imagine Windows Store games selling very well at all, but I'm sure Microsoft will find a way to make it look like it is.
As for me, I'm happy with Ubuntu on my desktop and SteamOS on my Steam Machine for my couch gaming. I personally dual boot with Windows 10, but I won't ever touch the Windows Store. Why would I want to lock myself in like that? I hope others feel the same.
How do you feel about all this? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Microsoft are moving to combine Windows 10 and Xbox One into one platform, and with that the Windows Store will become a bigger thing for them. This is something Gabe Newell of Valve feared, and it looks like it really is starting to become true. While there's nothing wrong with having universal games that work on W10 and XBone, making sure developers have to stick to their store is a problem.
The problem here, is that Microsoft are using their money and their exclusivity deals to keep certain games only on the Windows Store which locks out Steam in the process. There may not be too many doing it yet, but you can be sure over time Microsoft will sign more of these Windows 10 exclusive deals like they have with Quantum Break. Ars actually put it quite well in their article here:
QuoteUnfortunately for Spencer, not only has the PC as gaming platform seen little improvement from Microsoft—bar DirectX 12—but the company's one-platform-fits-all approach simply isn't going to fly on PC. The PC community has its own rules and expectations. Forcing console-like restrictions on a group that values freedom was never going to end well. And now, with those people backed into a corner with Quantum Break—one of this year's most highly anticipated games—the backlash is only going to get bigger.
Steam isn't exactly a picture of freedom, but it is available on the three major operating systems. It's free to sign up for and use with no monthly fee needed. Developers can have their game on Steam as well as any other store. You get to buy once and play on any platform where the game is supported, and so on. Steam in these cases is the lesser of two evils.
Is history about to repeat itself with Games For Windows Live version 2? I doubt it, since the Windows Store is tied in with Windows 10 and with their universal apps it might actually be a success, which again, is trouble for Valve.
I can't imagine Windows Store games selling very well at all, but I'm sure Microsoft will find a way to make it look like it is.
As for me, I'm happy with Ubuntu on my desktop and SteamOS on my Steam Machine for my couch gaming. I personally dual boot with Windows 10, but I won't ever touch the Windows Store. Why would I want to lock myself in like that? I hope others feel the same.
How do you feel about all this? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: HomepcgamerMaybe Sweeney explains better the situation...
He does indeed:
QuotePC UWP can, should, must, and will die as a result of industry backlash,Tim Sweeney :D
Pew. this happened sooner than I expected.
All right Blizzard, RIOT and EA. Someone just said clearly what everybody is thinking. You cannot just pretend that nothing happened. Microsoft just set its table to eat your cakes.
Is time to phone Gaben, throw down the money for some linux devs, join the SteamOs consortium and re-brand it as "GamingOs" or whatever you want. And start to port your stuff on the penguin ofc.
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wvstolzing Mar 4, 2016
So what does this imply for the hardware side of the xbox business? Are they discontinuing it? Won't people riot because they're forced to become 'PC gamers'? Wouldn't that entail total Sony dominance in the 'console space'?
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Quoting: wvstolzingSo what does this imply for the hardware side of the xbox business? Are they discontinuing it? Won't people riot because they're forced to become 'PC gamers'? Wouldn't that entail total Sony dominance in the 'console space'?
Consoles are dead friend. This is their last iteration.
Microsoft knows it and Sony probably suspects it.
Why do you think they brought win 10 on xbox one? In a couple of years, when their hardware will be to crappy for AAA titles, Microsoft will do what Valve is doing now: windows machines. Gaming PC with console form factor to put under your tv in your living room.
That is the "next generation".
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wvstolzing Mar 5, 2016
Quoting: MalConsoles are dead friend. This is their last iteration.
That seems to be a popular idea; though I'm not sure I can clearly see the reasons for it.
For a time, the reason people offered was that streaming services would replace local hardware. Well, a year ago a couple of streaming services became operational, and they hardly ushered in a revolution.
What has changed in the meanwhile, to suggest that this 'unification' move isn't just a symptom of the weird ideology that's been dominant at M$ for the past few years (and which has resulted in such
grand successes in the 'mobile space')?Linux people are of course inimical to the very idea, but Apple-style non-upgradable closed systems with supposedly convenient app stores became a commercial success for a reason. Given the mongrel being they're trying to create (half open-PC, half appstore bound locked-down thingie), I'm not sure those at M$ understand that 'reason'.
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Quoting: MalConsoles are dead friend. This is their last iteration.This sounds a lot like what people said when the previous generation of consoles stayed around for roughly eight years. Yet the console business had a blast.
Microsoft knows it and Sony probably suspects it.
Why do you think they brought win 10 on xbox one? In a couple of years, when their hardware will be to crappy for AAA titles, Microsoft will do what Valve is doing now: windows machines. Gaming PC with console form factor to put under your tv in your living room.
That is the "next generation".
I don't see either branch going away anytime soon, though PC gamings ongoing strong reliance on Windows may prove problematic.
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Quoting: GuestConsoles might have used to be good, but nowadays they're just overpriced, locked down pc's with their only selling point being exclusives.Quoting: MalQuoting: wvstolzingSo what does this imply for the hardware side of the xbox business? Are they discontinuing it? Won't people riot because they're forced to become 'PC gamers'? Wouldn't that entail total Sony dominance in the 'console space'?
Consoles are dead friend. This is their last iteration.
Microsoft knows it and Sony probably suspects it.
And Nintendo is laughing at you.
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/
Here, do yourself a BIG favor.
Sort by PC games first. http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=&platform=PC&genre=&minSales=0&results=200
- Find Half-Life on that list.
- Add the Steam sales of Half-Life on Steam. http://steamspy.com/app/70
9.8 million copies of Half-Life (or even 11.8 million of Half-Life 2) isn't even--(wait for it)--HALF of what Wii Sports did, or Super Mario Bros. did ... in 1985!!!
If you think companies like this are going to lay down and die, just because you and your little slice of Linux said so, I can only offer this:
Pokémon GO
Whatever you feel about this, take comfort in this one fact. If you get this game on Android, you can say you supported it on Linux. ;)
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: MalQuoting: wvstolzingSo what does this imply for the hardware side of the xbox business? Are they discontinuing it? Won't people riot because they're forced to become 'PC gamers'? Wouldn't that entail total Sony dominance in the 'console space'?
Consoles are dead friend. This is their last iteration.
Microsoft knows it and Sony probably suspects it.
And Nintendo is laughing at you.
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/
Here, do yourself a BIG favor.
Sort by PC games first. http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=&platform=PC&genre=&minSales=0&results=200
- Find Half-Life on that list.
- Add the Steam sales of Half-Life on Steam. http://steamspy.com/app/70
9.8 million copies of Half-Life (or even 11.8 million of Half-Life 2) isn't even--(wait for it)--HALF of what Wii Sports did, or Super Mario Bros. did ... in 1985!!!
If you think companies like this are going to lay down and die, just because you and your little slice of Linux said so, I can only offer this:
Pokémon GO
Whatever you feel about this, take comfort in this one fact. If you get this game on Android, you can say you supported it on Linux. ;)
So according to your number PS2 is the future of consoles and developer will target it. GG. Your number crunching skills sold me.
Back to serious stuff I never said a thing about linux (or SteamOs) killing consoles. Windows 10 will.
Win10 "xbox edition" is already everything that SteamOs craves to be and when the current generation will be old (in 1 or maximum 2 years) M$ has all the interest to break the "generation model" to transition to more flexible hardware model.
A game on xbox one today is game you take with you in all future xboxes (+ PCs) for the foreseeable future. Under this aspect it has all the advantages of a linux game in the steam library in the M$ world.
So M$ can really settle to whatever model it wants: from making "win10 xbox edition" free to download for everybody so they can build xbox machines, to let OEMs license it and eat each other for the low hardware margins to just release a sanctioned and upgraded xbox one model each year (like the iphone do).
Portability (or retrocompatibility as they call it) is a huge value for console gamers. That's why consoles delay the next generation for as long as possible. M$ set the course to break this limitation in their ecosystem. Yeah: Sony won the xboxone/ps4 battle. But if doesn't do something quickly it will lose the war because when this console generation dies, traditional consoles will die with it.
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Quoting: MalPortability (or retrocompatibility as they call it) is a huge value for console gamers. That's why consoles delay the next generation for as long as possible. M$ set the course to break this limitation in their ecosystem. Yeah: Sony won the xboxone/ps4 battle. But if doesn't do something quickly it will lose the war because when this console generation dies, traditional consoles will die with it.
I wonder... Typical console gamers don't want to think about hardware upgrades every few years, and console-developers are used to targetting a well-defined set of hardware configurations. The push for UWP games doesn't seem to go over well with the established PC gaming user base, so mixing cosole gamers and PC gamers together may backfire badly -- while technically it is better to have XBox games available for PC as well, especially for XBox owners, it can result in a lot of negative publicity if done wrong. At the moment I don't imagine too many XBox gamers caring about actually using the cross-purchase capability, while PC gamers abhor the possible implications for PC gaming.
Spreading yourself thin rather than focusing on the best possible user experience in a limited scope can also backfire badly. Part of the success of Valve for instance comes from having a clear focus.
Microsoft has little trust in the PC-gaming space as it is. If they do this TOO wrong, the alienate current PC gamers, risking a shift to Steam OS, and alienate XBox gamers, by making the XBox eco-system more PC-like. In the end instead of earning money from PC gaming more directly, they may hurt the dominant role of Windows for PCs and lose a share of the console market.
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This is an old article, things have evolved since then. Quantum Break of course was eventually made available on Steam. It should be said that SteamOS is a closed system with a single store. I welcome competition from Microsoft and the Windows store and hope that this thread makes Valve a better competitor.
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