Microsoft Store Competes With Valve's Steam
With Valve's Steam service supplying a growing number of high-profile games, the software king is looking to wage digital distribution war with its own Microsoft Store.
With a company the size of Microsoft, plenty of people in the technology community were surprised that it took until last week for Microsoft to start an online store [http://store.microsoft.com/default.aspx?store=US] hosting downloadable goods. The Microsoft Store sells a mix of Microsoft hardware and software, with its entertainment offerings including PC and Xbox 360 games.
Currently, Flight Simulator X is the only title that can be directly downloaded and played. It's a key first step for Microsoft into the PC digital distribution competition, a sector that is currently dominated by Valve's Steam service. Boasting hundreds of high-profile titles from most of the top third party publishers in the industry, Steam has seen incredible success, placing itself in a leadership position for offering full-priced triple-A titles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87643-GTA4-Hijacks-Steam-Vice-City-Offered-Free].
Games for Windows Live manager Chris Early isn't quite ready to claim victory or really even entrance into the download fray, but did confirm to Shacknews [http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55877], "Clearly it's on our road map."
Early is concerned with how to handle digital-rights management for Microsoft's fresh store. "When we get to the place where we do distribute games digitally, will we have a digital rights management system? Maybe," explained Early. "Or maybe we'll just continue to support the industry leaders in that. Because it is a hard thing to do. You talk to any of those companies, and that is their whole company, is doing digital rights management."
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With Valve's Steam service supplying a growing number of high-profile games, the software king is looking to wage digital distribution war with its own Microsoft Store.
With a company the size of Microsoft, plenty of people in the technology community were surprised that it took until last week for Microsoft to start an online store [http://store.microsoft.com/default.aspx?store=US] hosting downloadable goods. The Microsoft Store sells a mix of Microsoft hardware and software, with its entertainment offerings including PC and Xbox 360 games.
Currently, Flight Simulator X is the only title that can be directly downloaded and played. It's a key first step for Microsoft into the PC digital distribution competition, a sector that is currently dominated by Valve's Steam service. Boasting hundreds of high-profile titles from most of the top third party publishers in the industry, Steam has seen incredible success, placing itself in a leadership position for offering full-priced triple-A titles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87643-GTA4-Hijacks-Steam-Vice-City-Offered-Free].
Games for Windows Live manager Chris Early isn't quite ready to claim victory or really even entrance into the download fray, but did confirm to Shacknews [http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55877], "Clearly it's on our road map."
Early is concerned with how to handle digital-rights management for Microsoft's fresh store. "When we get to the place where we do distribute games digitally, will we have a digital rights management system? Maybe," explained Early. "Or maybe we'll just continue to support the industry leaders in that. Because it is a hard thing to do. You talk to any of those companies, and that is their whole company, is doing digital rights management."
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