Batman: Arkham Origins Won't Use Games For Windows Live

[Steven Bogos]

Batman: Arkham Origins Won't Use Games For Windows Live

Batman: Arkham Origins on the PC will instead use Valve's Steamworks suite.

Microsoft's PC gaming platform: Games for Windows Live, has been taking quite the beating this month. First, Capcom announced that it would be ditching the service for its latest shutting down [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126820-Ultra-Street-Fighter-IV-PC-Ditches-Games-For-Windows-Live] the Games for Windows Live marketplace. Now, Warner Bros. has confirmed that Batman: Arkham Origins won't make use of the service, instead opting to use Valve's own Steamworks for the PC version of the game.

The game will use Steamworks to manage achievements, multiplayer, and leaderboards, making it the first installment in the Arkham series to not use Games for Windows Live. Warner Bros. didn't say whether or not Arkham Origins will use some of Steamwork's other features, such as trading cards [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124052-Steam-Trading-Cards-Are-Now-a-Thing] and cloud saves.

The single-player portion of Batman: Arkham Origins is being developed by Warner Bros. Montreal. The previous two games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City were developed by Rocksteady Studios. The multiplayer component, which is also new to the Arkham series and features 3 vs. 3 vs. 2 asymmetrical gameplay [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126477-See-Arkham-Origins-Multiplayer-Chaos] is being handled by UK developer Splash Damage.

Microsoft recently brought on ex-Steam boss Jason Holtmam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126866-Former-Steam-Boss-Joins-Microsoft-Games-Division] to try and salvage its PC gaming image, but it may be a case of too little, too late, with more and more developers refusing to have anything to do with the Games for Windows Live service anymore.

Source: Gamespot [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/batman-arkham-origins-ditches-gfwl-for-steam-on-pc-6413149]

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[Teoes]

Superb news. Despite the fact I've got both Asylum and City and put up with Games for Windows FAIL for them, this has just made me more likely to pick up Origins when it is released.

 

[PBMcNair]

Thank god for that. I have no idea why anyone woulf willingly use GFWL. I had to use it for Dawn of war 2. It was running at the same time as Steam because reasons, and I could barely go 3 co-op missions with my housemate before one of us dropped. Only once in all the times I've played DOW 2 did it ever drop a game from Steam.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Considering the GFWL market got shutdown recently this isn't surprising.

That said, I may actually purchase this game down the road sooner rather than wait for the price to drop to peanuts as I usually do for games with multiple DRM systems.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Halleluiah. The sudden attack of common sense. Better late than never, I guess.

 

[Anachronism]

More to the point, will it use SecuROM? I'm assuming it won't, but the fact that the other two Arkham games have Steamworks, Games For Windows FAIL and SecuROM was the reason I didn't buy them. If all this one has is Steamworks, I'll be all over it.

 

[shintakie10]

Can't we just not use Steamworks? Im tired of needin to download a crack for games I bought with my own money in order to not deal with Steam.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Can't we just not use Steamworks? Im tired of needin to download a crack for games I bought with my own money in order to not deal with Steam.

What do you have against steam? Especially in light of the news that the game will no longer require GFWL which is in every way a worse service than steamworks.

 

[unstabLized]

YES! YES! YES! Oh thank GOD! Games for Windows Live for Arkham City was the biggest hellspawn I've seen! SO MUCH FAITH RESTORED!

 

[ritchards]

And no sign of SecuROM on the Steam page... so this may well be the first Batman Arkham game I play!

 

[Lunar Templar]

thank god.

now, rip it out of the other two and Dark Souls and I'll be happy

 

[Bat Vader]

This is great news. I have both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City on Steam and yet I still have to have a GFWL account to play them. I should not have to sign into two different services just to play a game.

I hope Arkahm Origins will have Steam Trading Cards.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Best news I've heard the past few days.

It's about time publishers start to move away from that cancerous tumor that is called GFWL.

 

[Jamous]

Well thank shit for that. GFWL is horrendous. Useable, (just), but horrendous.