Games for Windows Marketplace - Steam getting some competition

[Trippy]

Placeholder page: http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/community/pages/gond.aspx

Press release: http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-us/press.aspx

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 22, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the Games for Windows Marketplace, a new online PC games store that combines the convenience of the Web with the power of Games on Demand online distribution. Launching Nov. 15, the Games for Windows Marketplace will offer PC gamers a robust lineup of games they love, easier navigation and purchase, and recurring specials such as Deal of the Week.

       “With Games for Windows Marketplace, we set out to create a digital store built for PC gamers end-to-end,” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. “And by integrating with our existing Xbox LIVE and Windows Live services, we’ve made it easier than ever for millions of gamers to see for themselves how easy buying PC games can be.”

A Streamlined Experience

Built from the ground up for convenience and performance, the Games for Windows Marketplace (http://www.gamesforwindows.com) will remove the barriers between gamers and the games they love by offering the following:

    * Online access, anywhere. Optimized for speed, the store allows for ultra-fast downloads; this means fewer clicks to purchase and download, delivering faster turnaround for gameplay. And since the service lives on the Web, gamers can download games on a PC, anytime, and can easily redownload games they purchase if needed.
    * Deals and discounts galore. Gamers can check out screaming deals on select games every time they visit the Marketplace, as well as the Deal of The Week and other recurring and seasonal offers.
    * Game search functionality. Gamers can search by titles or genres to quickly find the games they want; they can even find new games from their favorite publishers with dedicated publisher pages.
    * Fresh design. The clean, intuitive look and feel makes browsing for games a simple, enjoyable experience. Gamers can easily navigate between pages as they search for the perfect game.

A Growing Portfolio

       Games for Windows Marketplace will launch with a managed portfolio of 100 top-quality titles. The launch roster includes blockbuster games such as “Fable: The Lost Chapters” (Microsoft Game Studios) and “Grand Theft Auto III” (Rockstar Games Inc.) from some of the industry’s biggest developers, such as Capcom Entertainment Inc., 2K Games, Square Enix Co. Ltd. and more. In addition to top retail games, the portfolio will bring new indie titles to the forefront and continue to grow with many of the best games in the industry including titles such as “Lego Universe” (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) and “CarneyVale” (Microsoft Game Studios), which will hit the Games for Windows Marketplace and retail stores at the same time and date; recent hits such as “Dead Rising 2” and “Lost Planet 2” (both from Capcom); and perennial best-sellers such as “Max Payne” (Rockstar) and “Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition” (Square Enix).

       “We plan to deliver some of our biggest and best PC franchises on Games for Windows Marketplace from day one,” said Christian Svensson, corporate officer and vice president of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Capcom. “Digital distribution continues to drive growth in PC gaming, and we’re excited to partner with Microsoft and bring amazing games to this growing marketplace.”

       Games for Windows Marketplace will also be the place to find iconic franchises from Microsoft Game Studios, such as “Flight Simulator,” “Gears of War,” “Halo” and “Zoo Tycoon,” as well as upcoming blockbusters “Fable III,” “Age of Empires Online” and “Microsoft Flight.”

Easy Access to a Massive Gamer Community

       Using the new marketplace is a breeze: anyone with a Windows Live ID (Windows Live, Xbox LIVE, Games for Windows – LIVE or Zune account) can login and immediately start shopping in the Games for Windows Marketplace. The new store also supports Microsoft Points (as well as credit card purchasing), allowing the more than 25 million users of Xbox LIVE, Zune Marketplace and Games for Windows – LIVE to use their Microsoft Points balance seamlessly across platforms.

       The new Games for Windows Marketplace launches Nov. 15 at http://www.gamesforwindows.com.

[NiX]

They should made Fable III PC a simultaneous launch title with the service. As always, no one knows when it's coming out, which makes purchasing the console version the better choice.

[Paelos]

Did Fable 2 ever come out for the PC?

[NiX]

Did Fable 2 ever come out for the PC?

No, it remains a 360 exclusive with no word of a PC port.

[Musashi]

They don't need to launch it with a title.  It's Microsoft.  It will be bundled with all future versions of Windows.  You will download it 'optionally' when you automatically update.

[WayAbvPar]

The more, the merrier. Let's see who can drive their prices the lowest and capture market share.

[Paelos]

Did Fable 2 ever come out for the PC?

No, it remains a 360 exclusive with no word of a PC port.

Lame, why do they hate my money?

[Nightblade]

After games for windows live making me cancel numerous potential purchases, I'm sure this digital distribution system will be handled much, much more efficiently. 

[Azazel]

Did Fable 2 ever come out for the PC?

No, it remains a 360 exclusive with no word of a PC port.

Lame, why do they hate my money?

Dude, it's FABLE. You should thank them for not porting it.

And yeah, G4WL doesnt work properly for whatever reason on my PC. This thing might be ha;f viable in a couple of years, but given the teething problems Steam had and the several years of incompetency G4W has had, I'll look forward to caring slightly about this service in 2014 or so, by which time Steam will have eaten another $1000 of my money on impulse-purchased games I still haven't gotten around to installing or playing...

[Kageru]

Fuck Microsoft.

They could have done this *years* ago given the Xbox-360 is little more than a low-spec integrated PC in a fancy case and they had a huge catalogue of potential titles. And the money and infrastructure to easily put this in place. Online activation of games also would have gone a long way to solving the rampant piracy on the PC. Instead they wait until someone else proves it viable and then try to muscle in. I hope it works as well for them as their competition with iTunes went.

To be honest I always assumed they would have been quite happy with PC gaming dying (I'm sure they get a bigger cut from selling X-box's and licensed games). In which case this represents them realising that valve has either rescued PC gaming or proved there was still a market out there.

[Sheepherder]

To be honest I always assumed they would have been quite happy with PC gaming dying (I'm sure they get a bigger cut from selling X-box's and licensed games). In which case this represents them realising that valve has either rescued PC gaming or proved there was still a market out there.

DirectX and HLSL would indicate otherwise.

[NiX]

I get the impression they're doing this is because someone on their PR team suggested a rebranding/revisioning of Microsoft and 360 when it comes to games, but considering they make Windows, they can't just rebrand the console, they had to reinvest in the people who buy their OS. Fable 3, Microsoft Flight and Age of Empires Online are their first 3 "commitments" to that cause, but yeah, the service will make or  break it.

[Ironwood]

Who's going to do instanced Cloud gaming first, one wonders.

[Kail]

After games for windows live making me cancel numerous potential purchases, I'm sure this digital distribution system will be handled much, much more efficiently. 

To be fair, my main gripe with GFWL is that it makes me sign in again in every game I load up, and has an annoying tendency to apply huge patches on top of that (the hell are they even patching?  I wasn't under the impression that the GFWL client actually did anything all that complicated) and require re-entering CD Keys for games you already own.  Theoretically, making it a "sign in once on startup" kind of service will alleviate most of that.  Hopefully.  They haven't said much about how GFWL will mix with this Marketplace thing, though, maybe it'll be just as stupid.

[Tebonas]

Well, they language for GFWL is mandatory German here in Austria, without being able to change that.

Stands to reason its the same for Games for Windows Marketplace, so fuck them!

[Stormwaltz]

Given how obnoxious GFWL currently is, and how polished and accepted Steam currently is, I doubt this is going to get much traction among PC gamers.

[TripleDES]

Is Microsoft still bribing developers into Xbox exclusives?

[eldaec]

Given how obnoxious GFWL currently is, and how polished and accepted Steam currently is, I doubt this is going to get much traction among PC gamers.

Given a choice, this is obviously true - on the other hand, I can see a GFWL exclusive programme being designed to screw over anyone who refuses to conform.

MS only really need to throw relatively small amounts of cash to a few key developers to have them go digital-exclusive to GFWLM and before long they'll have an install base to rival steam. Customers will follow the product regardless of how crappy the platform is.

Case in point, how many people here bought HL2 on Steam, despite the state of Steam at HL2 launch.

[Kageru]

To be honest I always assumed they would have been quite happy with PC gaming dying (I'm sure they get a bigger cut from selling X-box's and licensed games). In which case this represents them realising that valve has either rescued PC gaming or proved there was still a market out there.

DirectX and HLSL would indicate otherwise.

I'd say that has more to do with not wanting OpenGL (from which they borrowed a lot of the foundation for DirectX) becoming the foundation library for windows games. Even worse because OpenGL was multi-platform. Microsoft is smart enough to know controlling the standards is cash in the bank.

[Nightblade]

Given a choice, this is obviously true - on the other hand, I can see a GFWL exclusive programme being designed to screw over anyone who refuses to conform.

MS only really need to throw relatively small amounts of cash to a few key developers to have them go digital-exclusive to GFWLM and before long they'll have an install base to rival steam. Customers will follow the product regardless of how crappy the platform is.

Are you sure about that? There are a great many people who will either outright ignore a product if it has a certain type of DRM, and some who will just flat out steal the product if it has something included they don't like. People will only fold when there's no alternative.

Case in point, how many people here bought HL2 on Steam, despite the state of Steam at HL2 launch.

When (HL2)steam first launched, there were no alternatives. The market is completely different now.

[Kageru]

Microsoft rips off steam's online activation DRM approach. Microsoft modifies the Xbox game licensing agreement such that all Xbox games, after 6 months, will be released on GFWL. Microsoft continues selling Xbox peripherals for the PC since the games will not be customised for the PC. Microsoft makes bank.

And for them spending twice as much as Valve would probably barely even register on their financials.

[AutomaticZen]

Did an interview with the guy running the new store here.  I hope it goes well for the guy, but Microsoft still seems to have a problem with different factions talking to each other.  Where's the integration?

[Margalis]

MS only really need to throw relatively small amounts of cash to a few key developers to have them go digital-exclusive to GFWLM and before long they'll have an install base to rival steam. Customers will follow the product regardless of how crappy the platform is.

Worked for Xbox in Japan.

[Nightblade]

Microsoft rips off steam's online activation DRM approach. Microsoft modifies the Xbox game licensing agreement such that all Xbox games, after 6 months, will be released on GFWL. Microsoft continues selling Xbox peripherals for the PC since the games will not be customized for the PC. Microsoft makes bank.

Supposing they even do all of this; what you described is hardly a fool proof plan. Again: should this Games for Windows Marketplace even be well implemented (which is probably wont), it still has to fight off a horrible reputation and convince millions of users deeply invested into steam already to run yet their separate application just to run their games. It wont be the digital abortion that Onlive is; but I really doubt steam has anything to worry about at this point.

[Kageru]

Sure... Microsoft are terrible at this. I doubt they'll ever seriously compete with Steam. The three advantages they have are they can integrate and bundle it with windows, the average PC user actually considers them as an awesome company and they have Xbox exclusive games steam simply won't get.

But as I said above I still expect it to end up doing as well as their competition to iTunes went. They may not care though given the insane amount of money they have.

[Nightblade]

Sure... Microsoft are terrible at this. I doubt they'll ever seriously compete with Steam. The three advantages they have are they can integrate and bundle it with windows, the average PC user actually considers them as an awesome company and they have Xbox exclusive games steam simply won't get.

Can they really get games exclusively from the X-box port library? Won't the developers kind of mind not being on more established platform(s)?

[Yegolev]

Not if they get a check for an amount similar to what they might have gotten in sales... or less than, even, since it's money without effort.

[UnSub]

Case in point, how many people here bought HL2 on Steam, despite the state of Steam at HL2 launch.

When (HL2)steam first launched, there were no alternatives. The market is completely different now.

A box copy?

Steam may be more established, but that doesn't make it impervious. If MS is serious and starts stealing exclusive titles and popular Steam features, they could easily gain ground.

MS may have a poor reputation, but gamers are easily distracted by teh shiney.

[Azazel]

Microsoft rips off steam's online activation DRM approach. Microsoft modifies the Xbox game licensing agreement such that all Xbox games, after 6 months, will be released on GFWL.

Can't see this happening. A PC is not a 360. Who's going to write the ports, patches, upgrades, provide the multiplayer infrastructure, etc?

Something like that would put a huge dent into their 360 devs that Sony's console attach rate would be down the street, never to be caught up with. They won't damage their moneymaking share of the console market for a steam-alike service on PCs.

[Kageru]

Um, you realise microsoft writes development tools, that GFWL is the infrastructure for playing online and that XNA is their multiplatform (eg. windows and xbox) game development framework? There is nothing stopping them releasing the same code on both platforms considering they have effectively total control over the development toolchain. And if it doesn't work on your PC they can point at your hardware manufacturer and say they should have coughed up for microsoft certification. Win-win again.

Yeah, they'll delay exclusive releases 6-12 months before they hit the PC. Microsoft are scum but they do know the basics of marketing (and are experts at technological lock-in).

[schild]

This is not competition with Steam.

Everything they've done with PC delivery has been trash.

(Edit: I should add, if they abandon everything they've done previously with GFW/L and completely integrate the experience into windows, add saves to the cloud (perfectly, for every game, can compete with Steam on pricing, community support [etc.] and don't make it eye-stabbingly ugly - then, and only then, will it approach being competition. Though I bet the indie support will still be godawful).

[Sheepherder]

I'd say that has more to do with not wanting OpenGL (from which they borrowed a lot of the foundation for DirectX) becoming the foundation library for windows games. Even worse because OpenGL was multi-platform. Microsoft is smart enough to know controlling the standards is cash in the bank.

Microsoft doesn't want to be in the games business but is building API's which are free to utilize because they want to control the standards of the games business because... profit.

Lolwut?  Conclusion does not follow.

[tgr]

Steam may be more established, but that doesn't make it impervious. If MS is serious and starts stealing exclusive titles and popular Steam features, they could easily gain ground.

MS may have a poor reputation, but gamers are easily distracted by teh shiney.

I don't know about most people, but I've gone above critical mass on Steam, I've bought a few games from GOG and I've got 5-6 games on impulse (mostly because they weren't on steam, and they were dirt cheap, and even then I only have Impulse access due to SoaSE), and I really do not feel like having a fourth place to go to.

MS is going to have to seriously revamp their offering if they're going to get even close to getting my business, precisely because of all the bad-will they've managed to build up with hilarious stunds like "DX10 on Vista only 'because of technical reasons'" and the current GFW offering (which suck donkey balls through a straw).

[Kageru]

Microsoft doesn't want to be in the games business but is building API's which are free to utilize because they want to control the standards of the games business because... profit.

Lolwut?  Conclusion does not follow.

Try harder. DirectX predates Xbox if that helps.

Though the wiki page actually mentions one competitor was dos (Dos4GW, how long ago was that).

[Margalis]

People vastly overestimate how effective MS is when it throws money at a problem. Didn't work with phones, didn't work with Zune, didn't work with tablets, didn't work with set-top web tv, didn't work with Xbox in Japan, didn't work with Silverlight, didn't work with XAML, didn't work with Live Search.

The idea that hey, they'll just spend enough and then be a serious competitor is not borne out by history.