Game Stash: Microsoft?s Missed Opportunity

[pantsoffdanceoff]

[b/]Age of Empires, Flight Sim[/b]

And to reward the developers that made these fine games, well they shut them down, but I'm sure MS still cares about us.

Of course they were shut down. Noone would buy their games anymore. The market is on the consoles because people play on the consoles. Why is MS the bad guy in this? If people don't pay for the Simulator but instead get a console and a dozen of games for it, well, that is the market. An often idiotic market, but a market.

No I agree that MS is wise not to deal with us comp users, we're picky bastards. But the post above me argued that MS DOES still care about comp users, which you seem to agree with.

 

[LoganN]

[b/]Age of Empires, Flight Sim[/b]

And to reward the developers that made these fine games, well they shut them down, but I'm sure MS still cares about us.

Of course they were shut down. Noone would buy their games anymore. The market is on the consoles because people play on the consoles. Why is MS the bad guy in this? If people don't pay for the Simulator but instead get a console and a dozen of games for it, well, that is the market. An often idiotic market, but a market.

Believe it or not, the country was in a recession. They had to close down some studios to save money. They had to lay off employees for the first time in history.

Anyway, recently, there were job posting at Microsoft for those interested in making a flight sim game. They specifically refereed to it as Flight Sim LIVE. As for Age of Empires, it is one of the most iconic PC games ever. Most of the developers from Ensemble went to form a new studio called "Robot Entertainment". Microsoft and Robot are working on another project for the PC, and possibly the 360 as well. Plus, when Robot first started, Microsoft was the first ones to give them a job, that job was maintaining Halo Wars and Age of Empires 3.

 

[UnSub]

MS is focusing on the Xbox 360 because it owns that platform. Although it provides the OS for the vast majority of PCs out there, it certainly can't control the gaming aspect as strongly as it can on the Xbox 360. Closed platforms have their risks, but the past few console generations appear to have been exceedingly good at generating revenue (maybe not profit, but MS doesn't need profit at this point, since it receives huges amounts of money from other sources and investing in the Xbox 360 now may see the Xbox 720 as a huge profit driver later).

The fact is that for PC gaming, MS gets paid through virtue of the OS. Now, if they ever need to work more on GFW, it's there, but they get money from Steamworks' output as sure as if it was their own.

Also, there is the prevailing view that PC gaming is pretty stagnant compared to consoles and that the future of PC gaming is MMOs and social gaming. If you believe that, why invest in PC gaming when better alternatives exist?

 

[bojac6]

I have one question for Microsoft on this subject. Where is a new Crimson Skies game?

Either of the board, tabletop, pc, or 360 variety. And that stupid Clix or whatever game doesn't count.

That is all

 

[LoganN]

Bumping this thread in light of Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight being officially announced. Both are coming exclusively to Games for Windows LIVE.

 

[wonkify]

Thank you so much for writing this!

My frustration over the lack of coverage of exactly this topic has been intense and I am grateful to see someone address this so well. Seeing PC gaming completely blown off by Microsoft so they can plow everything in to the Xbox has been a slow motion train wreck and painful for those of us who love PC gaming.

The fact it is completely short sighted and unnecessary hasn't helped either.

And GFWL has been an abomination and an abject failure. I was tempted to get a water hose and flush it from my tower.