Microsoft wants to kill PC gaming

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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Why isn't this on the front page of The Escapist? It affect the entire PC community. This makes GFWL look amazing in comparison.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/04/gears-of-war-developer-epic-games-tim-sweeney-games-industry-fight-microsoft

Tim Sweeney writes: "Microsoft is moving against the entire PC industry - including consumers (and gamers in particular), software developers such as Epic Games, publishers like EA and Activision, and distributors like Valve and Good Old Games.

"Microsoft has launched new PC Windows features exclusively in UWP, and is effectively telling developers you can use these Windows features only if you submit to the control of our locked-down UWP ecosystem. They're curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers."

A key concern is that Microsoft is set to include and update features in UWP that won't be supported by older development platforms. This means that games studios will need to support and use UWP if they want games to remain at the cutting edge of games capabilities on Windows 10.
Full text is in the link and I suggest you read it.

Gabe Newell knew what was coming when he saw Windows 10 development. I remember reading some of his comments about the ugly future that Microsoft has in store for PC as a gaming platform a few years ago. That's why Valve started working on SteamOS. We can only hope to god that it becomes a viable alternative sooner rather than later.
 

Saelune

Trump put kids in cages!
Legacy
Mar 8, 2011
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Not saying this is not true....but don't lump EA, Activision or even Valve really, as "victims". They do similar things in an effort to maintain control in their own ways. Activision toyed with that Call of Duty subscription thing, and EA Origin is them taking a swipe at Steam....and Steam well, I love it but its a monopoly I find myself stuck in.
 
Sep 14, 2009
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ugh, microsoft can fuck right off, not that I will ever go to apple, but jesus they are pretty much throwing all pc gamers to linux with bullshit like this.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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Saelune said:
Not saying this is not true....but don't lump EA, Activision or even Valve really, as "victims". They do similar things in an effort to maintain control in their own ways. Activision toyed with that Call of Duty subscription thing, and EA Origin is them taking a swipe at Steam....and Steam well, I love it but its a monopoly I find myself stuck in.
Yes, but that's just creating more competition in the PC market. This is Microsoft trying to monopolize PC gaming and control the market completely. This is Microsoft trying to do with the PC what they wanted to do with Xbone initially before the outrage. They've not given up on that dream. They're just using different tactics.
 

renegade7

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Feb 9, 2011
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I think it's time for another around of trust-busting for Microsoft.

The last straw for me was learning about their OEM hard drive lockout policy which prevents you from installing a new OS. I still have my Windows 7 installation but I haven't used it in over a year.

gmaverick019 said:
ugh, microsoft can fuck right off, not that I will ever go to apple, but jesus they are pretty much throwing all pc gamers to linux with bullshit like this.
And good thing for that. Not only is Linux free, but open-source programs get better the more people who are using them. For closed-source it's the exact opposite.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
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No no no, you got it all wrong. Microsoft doesn't want to kill PC gaming, they want to assimilate it into their collective.
Didn't you see their Youtube channel announcement?!

 

OneCatch

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Jun 19, 2010
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Adam Jensen said:
Why isn't this on the front page of The Escapist? It affect the entire PC community
I'm amazed that the GID forum hasn't picked this up!

But anyway, I read this earlier and it kind of confirms my suspicions about Win 10 ( and why I probably won't be upgrading on my gaming machine). They've been pushing this free upgrade way too aggressively, they have a reason for doing so, and that reason it likely strategic.
This kind of move may well not be entirely about generating revenue from individuals - though this OS is going to have to do that somehow, and as yet Microsoft have given no real indication of how that's going to happen.
But even if this is mainly targeted at hitting the other big players in the gaming sphere, the way they're choosing to go about doing it is a massive, massive warning sign.
 

NPC009

Don't mind me, I'm just a NPC
Aug 23, 2010
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So, if I understand this correctly, the opponents of UWP are saying it'd move PCs towards the console situation: developers must obtain licenses to developer for/release on Windows systems. It may even force developers to abandon platforms such as Steam and GOG, and only release their games in the Windows Store. However, Microsoft is saying none of that is going to happen and that UWP is a fully open ecosystem. I figure the truth is somewhere in the middle...

What I don't understand it what features are exclusive to UWP other than being able to develop and release software for all Windows 10 devices all at once. If someone could clarify, that'd be awesome.
 

DoPo

"You're not cleared for that."
Jan 30, 2012
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veloper said:
What can a game studio do with UWP, that they cannot do now?
Ezekiel said:
veloper said:
What can a game studio do with UWP, that they cannot do now?
Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. What are these new UWP features? The article should explain what this locked-down UWP ecosystem is after starting with so much drama.
So, I hadn't heard about this until now, but I did a (very small) amount of reading to understand what is the concept. Here it is:

UWP stands for "Universal Windows Platform". It is apparently a framework for writing Windows native applications. It is distinguished by making the app being portable between any Windows device - PC, tablet, whatever. This includes both visual style normalisation between all of them (for example, your app would look the same regardless of the resolution, and you don't need to design for different ones) as well as input (you don't need to differentiate between taps or clicks) or even functionality (there would be a common API for all Windows OSes).

So, overall, it's just a way of making Windows applications the Windows way. UWP goes just a bit further by discouraging you from actually thinking of Windows as anything else than a common platform - it wouldn't allow developers to know what exact device their app is working on - this means that you can't add in extra functionality (like bugfixes or optimisations) for only Microsoft Surface 3 but not for 4. The only information UWP can allow your app to know is the family of devices your app is running on, so Surface, or desktops and so on, but nothing more specific.

Apps developed using UWP, can then be packaged as .appX which is the new format for distributing Windows software. It allows to easily distribute it on Windows platforms and to also directly submit it to the Windows store, if you want. There are some perks to using the store as well, like, you will be able allow installation on only certain families of devices - say, only desktops.

Finally, UWP, is going the .NET route and even just a tiny step further than that, I suppose. What I mean is (for the unenlightened) that .NET is the Microsoft framework that allows writing in several languages that all work the same. You can use C# or Visual Basic or few others (these are the staple .NET languages, though) and apart from the syntax, they would operate the same way. You can even have, say, one module written in VB and another in C# and they can talk to each other with no real problem thanks to the framework. So, UWP would do something similar - you can write your application in one of several languages and they would be compatible with each other and so on.

So, I think that's the core of UWP.

To answer the question of what it offers that couldn't be done until now - I guess strictly speaking the answer is "nothing" - you could achieve the same results with or without using UWP. I guess the difference is the ease - if you want to port stuff across to a different platform, that still uses Windows, you'd have to do some changes. Small or large, there would be. At the very least, the UI may need to be redesigned. UWP boasts that you wouldn't need to do that as it would resize for optimal display regardless of the device.
 

Fox12

AccursedT- see you space cowboy
Jun 6, 2013
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This is why Microsoft is the worst company in gaming. Worse then EA, worse then Ubisoft, worse then Capcom, worse then Konami. At least most of those companies are content to screw over their customers, or to burn themselves down. Microsoft wants to fuck up the entire medium. I can't believe people actually trusted them. Unfortunately, this has a much better chance of going through then the Xbone. Just fuck that whole company.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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It seems like Microsoft just wants to supplant Valve, and I see no problem with that, because anything that hurts Valve is a victimless crime.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Honestly, I thought people wanted LESS click-bait on The Escapist.

DoPo said:
To answer the question of what it offers that couldn't be done until now - I guess strictly speaking the answer is "nothing" - you could achieve the same results with or without using UWP. I guess the difference is the ease - if you want to port stuff across to a different platform, that still uses Windows, you'd have to do some changes. Small or large, there would be. At the very least, the UI may need to be redesigned. UWP boasts that you wouldn't need to do that as it would resize for optimal display regardless of the device.
Even the threat is exceptionally vague. There are "certain features" you wouldn't have access to unless you submit to their system, which means...very little. It may not be an optimal idea. Hell, it might be a stupid idea. But "killing PC gaming?"

Not...really.
 

Subbies

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Dec 11, 2010
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This is dumb, like really dumb. Developers aren't forced to use it and any demanding game will avoid it at all costs since it will only impede on optimization. I don't understand what the fuss is about.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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One can always count on gamers to miss the forest for the trees when it comes to things like this. Very few people saw the disastrous potential of things like pre-order culture, day-one DLC, season passes, microtransactions etc. and look at the shape that games are released nowadays as a direct consequence of that. What Microsoft is doing here is just the beginning. If you're at all familiar with what Microsoft has been trying to achieve for almost a decade you'd know why "killing PC gaming" is actually very much true. They've been trying to copy Apple's business model for a long fuckin' time now and they finally found a way. But they're much worse. For fuck sake we've seen what they wanted to do with the Xbone when they initially announced it. Are you so quick to forget that? Sure you can say that it's hyperbole, but they are trying to kill PC gaming as we know it and slowly but surely turn it into closed off console-like experience controlled entirely by Microsoft.
 

Albino Boo

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Jun 14, 2010
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The sky was going to fall down when win 8 came out, again when win 10 was released and now with UWP. To make Windows a closed ecosystem would mean going to war with all the major publishing house in both games and non games. Microsoft are not going spend the next 20 years fighting antitrust suits and mmonopolies investigations. Microsoft is mature company in a mature industry, its aiming to gain market share by making it easy to produce apps that work across all its APIs. Its a multi platform version of .NET that's all.
 

Jadak

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Nov 4, 2008
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This just sounds like quality control. If it's a certain type of app being distributed through a certain type of store, they want to ensure it lives up to certain standard. Same logic as how xbox devs have to get their games certified as opposed to everyone just releasing whatever.

Not sure what relevance this has to PC gaming in general without elaboration on what these exclusive UWP features are. Sounds like they'd just have to do with integration into windows in the same sense as how steam games can integrate with steam features. It's not necessarily needed and often not wanted. Don't care. And it'll likely just fail anyways.