Games for Windows PC Marketplace Closes This Month

[Steven Bogos]

Games for Windows PC Marketplace Closes This Month

PC ports of Microsoft-published games such as Gears of War and Halo 2 won't be available for purchase anywhere following the closure.

Well this is surprising. No sooner than we heard that the man who made Steam the king of digital distribution is planning to work his magic with Microsoft [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126866-Former-Steam-Boss-Joins-Microsoft-Games-Division], Microsoft has announced that its Games for Windows PC marketplace will be shut down in under a week, on August 22. The actual Games for Windows Live client and service should continue running as usual, so you'll still be able to download and play previously purchased titles.

"Games for Windows Live titles published by Microsoft are no longer available for purchase from any marketplace."

While the vast majority of games that are available on the Games for Windows store are will still be purchasable through other stores like Steam, Games for Windows Live titles published by Microsoft, such as Halo 2 and Gears of War are no longer available for purchase from any marketplace.

As for DLC, it will vary from game-to-game. "In-game purchases and other downloadable content purchase availability will vary based on the particular game. Please contact specific game publisher for more information," said Microsoft.

Lastly, if you've still got some Microsoft Points in your account, and you don't own an Xbox or Windows Phone, you may want to use them up fast. "You can use the currency in your Microsoft account to buy a variety of Xbox content from your favorite Xbox stores," said Microsoft, adding "and if you have a Windows Phone 8 device, content from the Windows Phone Store."

The closure of the PC marketplace will come with the same update that will convert Microsoft Points into an actual currency [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126730-Microsoft-Points-Die-With-Next-Xbox-360-Update].

Source: Xbox Support [http://support.xbox.com/en-US/games/pc-games/pc-marketplace-closing]

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[Upbeat Zombie]

I wonder how long before they announce they're closing down the service entirely. And if they will do anything to allow people to keep their games.

 

[Steven Bogos]

I wonder how long before they announce they're closing down the service entirely. And if they will do anything to allow people to keep their games.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess "not long" and "no"

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Kinda a mixed feeling about this:

On one hand, I heard tons of stories about bad experiences with GOWL system and support so Good riddance in that sense.

On the other, I feel bad for anyone who are losing the games they paid for.

 

[Denamic]

Kinda a mixed feeling about this:

On one hand, I heard tons of stories about bad experiences with GOWL system and support so Good riddance in that sense.

On the other, I feel bad for anyone who are losing the games they paid for.

No one is losing anything. It's the marketplace that's shutting down. As in, you can't buy anything from it, but everything you've already bought should still work as normal. Hopefully, that also means future games won't release with the GFWL cancer in them.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Well this thread went negative quick.

I think Jason Holtman is just trying to start it all up from scratch, continuing with Game for Windows Live in it's current template wouldn't have gone anywhere.

Also, people can still play their games, if they shut that down they'd have legal issues wouldn't they?

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

No one is losing anything. It's the marketplace that's shutting down. As in, you can't buy anything from it, but everything you've already bought should still work as normal. Hopefully, that also means future games won't release with the GFWL cancer in them.

Ohh....DERP!

My bad, man, Thanks for the correction.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Kinda a mixed feeling about this:

On one hand, I heard tons of stories about bad experiences with GOWL system and support so Good riddance in that sense.

On the other, I feel bad for anyone who are losing the games they paid for.

No one is losing anything. It's the marketplace that's shutting down. As in, you can't buy anything from it, but everything you've already bought should still work as normal. Hopefully, that also means future games won't release with the GFWL cancer in them.

That isn't a given. What if you need to redownload it? Part of what makes digital games work as a distribution method is the ability to reinstall from the mothership if something goes squirrely on your end. I for one have already been burned once on this sort of thing with Jade Empire SE that I bought from the Bioware Store. The page no longer sells the game, there is nowhere to redownload from, and Bioware won't respond to my requests for advice.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'll bet you anything it's relaunching

Of course it is. They got Jason Holtman in to fix it. He comes on the team, and they immediately shut it down? That's not a death, that's the start of a reboot.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

As far as I know you can still pick up the disc versions of such games. And if the service isn't gonna be gone entirely you should still be able to authenticate them.

 

[Something Amyss]

Also, people can still play their games, if they shut that down they'd have legal issues wouldn't they?

Pretty much every online service providing access to games expresses within its TOU the right to shut down with a given period of notification.

That isn't a given. What if you need to redownload it?

According to this, you can still use the service. The marketplace is all that's going down.

For now, anyway.

 

[Stevepinto3]

Really guys, we immediately have to go to "well it's only a matter of time before Microsoft takes my games away"?

I'm one of those people that felt like the original Xbox One DRM was the single most evil and despicable act ever conceived in all of gaming history, and even I doubt MS is about to pull that.

Mostly I'm just wondering why do this. I know GFWL had about as much business as, say, a blockbuster store in 2013, but this is effectively taking certain titles off the market completely. How could this possibly benefit them?

Most likely scenario in my mind is that they're preparing some kind of rebranding for PC distribution, since GFWL is so reviled in the gaming community that after petitioning for a Dark Souls PC port, some of those same people said they would boycott the game if it didn't remove its GFWL requirement. So yeah, something resembling a fresh start might really help them.

 

[Vie]

Let me guess, Games for Windows Live Marketplace is now going to become a part of the Windows 8 app store?

Cause that's an idea insane enough to appeal to Microsoft.

"People aren't buying windows 8? Make all our games only run on it!"

Same sort of trick they tried with Vista, we all saw how well that went.

 

[Evil Smurf]

It wont be long until I install my batman games!

 

[TitanAura]

I like to think of it as a mercy killing.

 

[Living_Brain]

Next step in Jason Holtman's Master Plan:
Use Steam to publish all MS games.

I assume this action was his directive.

 

[Callate]

So if you missed out on the opportunity to grab one of the games Microsoft stiffed you out of the sequels to, better get to it.

I had a f@#$ to give about this, but I can't seem to locate it.

My guess is that we're going to see Holtman behind some kind of new push in the Windows 8 app store. If that prediction proves to be correct, I pity the man, because I'm finding it very hard to imagine anything that would make me touch Windows 8 and its closed, Microsoft-centric Apple-market-wannabe with a ten foot pole.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Next step in Jason Holtman's Master Plan:
Use Steam to publish all MS games.

I assume this action was his directive.

They've already started doing this. All the Xbox Live Arcade games that had PC ports released in the last year, all of which were published by Microsoft, have been Steam exclusives. And there's been evidence of Halo games appearing in Steam's database before they scrubbed the records of it.