Gaming

Microsoft isn’t doing all it should to help PC gaming

Microsoft may be responsible for the foundation of Windows-based gaming, but …

Frank Caron – Jul 2, 2008 2:30 AM | 0

Some will tell you that PC gaming is dying. Others will tell you it's never been stronger. Whomever you listen to, though, one thing is clear: the PC gaming industry is in a state of flux, as its key players search for workable business models to keep up with the times. At the forefront of these initiatives is Microsoft, which has for better or for worse attempted some branding and platform-development schemes that, at least to some industry players, hasn't done a whole lot other than further stagger the PC gaming market.

Microsoft's Games for Windows initiative and its Windows Live gaming platform are the company's two apparent answers to the PC gaming problem. Together, these two plans were put into motion to help build a more structured and highly-visible unified "platform": a face to PC gaming that was more cohesive, more organized, more centralized for the gaming experience. The idea was to make PC gaming more accessible and to provide a place for gamers to unite, to click—the Xbox Live strategy applied to the fragmented PC market. If it weren't for all that darn piracy, they say. But really, the heart of the problem is the company's approach.

Industry criticism of Microsoft

Plans haven't exactly worked out as Microsoft would have liked. Windows Live remains relatively unpopular, and the Games for Windows branding has done little than add a seemingly irrelevant quarter-inch to the top of some retail boxes. And the problems extend beyond the gamers and the retail counter. Developers have been sounding off with increasing frequency about the somewhat-anemic offerings of the company. Blizzard's Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams recently called out the corporation, asking for more help and more influence. "With Microsoft, I think they have a bit of lip service with PC gaming," Sams said. "They have their own game system now, so I don’t think it’s really in their best interest to support [PC]."

That's one of the biggest problems hurting Microsoft's approach to the PC gaming market: its divided attention span to its Xbox 360 and the Windows gaming platform. A recent interview with Microsoft's Peter Zetterberg conducted by GamesIndustry reveals the problematic approach. "On a global scale the Windows Vista business is as important as our Xbox 360 business," Zetterberg explained. "But in Germany for example, we want more gamers to buy our Xbox 360. If we launch a game that is on 360 and PC simultaneously, we basically shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing the German market to choose to play the PC version—because they are more likely to buy that than spend their money on the Xbox 360."

Zetterberg, slightly backpedaling, continued to say that regardless of its release tactics Microsoft still holds the PC gaming market as "very relevant." But when PC gamers are being strung along, having to wait for ports that may or may not be as good as the originals, the PC gaming industry suffers. For every Mass Effect, there's a Lost Planet.

To its credit, Microsoft has stepped up efforts from a few years ago. The brand of Games For Windows is at least recognizable, and the company has been working as a part of the PC Gaming Alliance to try and further efforts to bring together key industry players. However, the PCGA's actions have grown immensely quiet as of late—in fact, there hasn't been much to report from the board of members including the likes of NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel since the original and incredibly tenuous announcement at GDC earlier this year. Despite its best efforts, Microsoft isn't doing all that much for PC gaming presently.

Save the software, save the world

Microsoft needs to put more energy—that is to say, money—into developing the Games for Windows brand and its Windows Live platform into something worthwhile. For all its shiny packaging and fancy computer score numbers, the entire operation leaves much to be desired. PC games are still scattered with little organization, proliferating various intrusive and ineffective DRM solutions that fail at locking down software and only punish those who actually buy the games. No one company has stepped up to provide a single solution that everyone can live with: game makers and gamers alike. This is something Microsoft is capable of doing... but simply hasn't.

In a sense, this mysterious model for success that seems so impossible to find—this missing link between consoles and PCs in terms of closing the system just enough to curb piracy and attract developers—is already up and running; Microsoft just has to embrace it. Industry-leading developer and publisher Valve remains one of the only companies that seems in tune with the PC gamer of today, and its Steam platform is arguably the lifeblood of the PC gaming industry at present.

While some developers continue to release titles on their own with variable (and typically draconian) DRM solutions that have, in most cases, led to consumer outrage and at times poor sales, and a rare few are ditching DRM altogether and going for the "we like gamers so they'll like us" approach such as with Ironclad Games' Sins of the Solar Empire, Steam presents an alternative reasonable enough that PC gamers are flocking to the service in droves.

Though at one time considered the bane of Valve's existence, forcing players to download additional software to play Counter-Strike, Steam has matured into a fully-featured gaming portal that really is a platform unto itself, and it continues to evolve. In addition to sporting an acceptable DRM solution, Steam contains a huge catalog of digitally-distributed titles, some robust social networking and community features, and a platform that is, at large, pretty user-friendly. Best of all, the service itself is free.

Conversely, the Windows Live platform is restrictive and far too oriented towards getting gamers buying into Microsoft's strategy at large. Those without an Xbox 360—and with no interest in one—have little reason to choose Windows Live. The incentives just aren't there—especially when you consider the fact that it's a subscription-based service. When it comes to paying to play non-MMO games online, that's something that PC gamers just aren't used to and just won't accept. And you can forget about paid map packs.

Despite what some of the hardcore PC gamers will say, Microsoft is still an important figure in the PC gaming industry. Much of the hubbub surrounding the death of PC gaming is born from the general gravitation of big-name developers to closed consoles. But Microsoft has the power and the influence to change that, if only it can leverage the Games for Windows brand and look to its competition in Steam to see how a unified, community-oriented, and quasi-closed gaming platform can function effectively. Turning the PC into a console isn't the answer.

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Frank Caron

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