MSFT's 1st-Party Strategy Won't Include Desktop Gamers

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Come on, it can't be that hard to have cross platform play with an option to select PC players only, console players only, or both. If M$ really wanted to put the screws to Sony, wouldn't this be the best option? I would think that bridging the gap between the console and PC would generate a lot more money ultimately for M$. More copies sold of each game. It would also go a LONG way to improving their reputation with gamers on PC if franchises like Gear of War and Halo were released on PC as well.
Honestly I would pay up to a $100-$150 just for a drive that played the xbox one games for my PC, that would allow to do the things I just mentioned. Better than buying a console that will be already out of date by 2015. lol.
 

internetlad

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big loss. Think about all the fantastic games that were made or developed first party by microsoft over the not inconsiderable lifespan of the 360.
Other than the games like Arkham City that just had DRM for Windows Live tacked on, I can't think of any I cared enough to play.
 

WithoutWeakness

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Microsoft makes far more money from Xbox gamers than they do from PC gamers. The money Microsoft makes from Windows and Office all comes from the enterprise market. The $100 you paid for Windows 7 or 8 for your home desktop is nothing compared to the $300+ people will pay for the new Xbox One plus the $60/year for Xbox Live and the cuts they get from new (and now used) game sales.

PC gaming deserves some great titles out of this generation. I don't even care if they're not exclusives like the original Crysis was. Now that the top 2 consoles will be running x86 processors and Radeon graphics cores I want to see some of the games that would normally be tied to consoles to be truly cross-platform. There is no need anymore for crappy console ports. Games in this generation should be able to run on both consoles as well as PC's.
 

poik

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Remember when Microsoft talked about how they'd be taking all their XBOX titles to PC... yeah that worked out well eh? Like Weakness said the platform base is now identical so the whole argument over it taking too much to port a title is gone. Tho I doubt MS cares. I could see them making it Windows 8 only just to force that "upgrade" on people who wanted to play something tho.
 

balister

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Um, no. The OS sales profits are coming from businesses, not from home desktops. If you actually worked in IT, you'd know where Microsoft is really making their money and it's not home users.
 

Avus

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Who need MS to support PC gaming?? I rather rely on Valve (Steam) than the so called "the world biggest software company" who mega suck on game and media (music/video) digital distribution on their own operation system!! The only thing that MS still contribute to PC gaming is DirectX. But again, it can easily be substituted by OpenGL and OpenAL. So not big loss if MS even give up that.
Oh yea they suck at mobile phone/tablet OS too...
 
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I don't even care, I will gaming on a true next gen platform come BF4 time anyway. 2 GTX 780s, 512GB SSD, 16gb ram, i7 4770k, 2560 x 1600 display all ultra settings. Next gen that console gamers, you can have their games.
 

pliskin1

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"That said, PC gamers will still need to rely on Crytek, 2K Games, Electronic Arts and others to provide quality, AAA titles for the PC."
Something horribly wrong in this statement.
 
So... the xbox runs on x86 hardware, runs a normal GPU, installs games like a normal computer, runs the win8 kernel.... and we cannot figure out how to port games over to the PC? I love a lot of the things that MS has been doing lately from WP, to win8, to their new ad campaign that actuially sells and compares products, but man have they missed the mark on the xbox One.
 

gm0n3y

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Considering that the best PC games are generally FPS, RTS, or RPG, I don't really care that we aren't getting the crappy console games.
 

poik

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They can`t lock it down and I doubt PC gamers would embrace a MS version of Steam. That it would be quick easy money is beside the point as there`s little work to be done to enable PC play.

0 sales = 0 dollars. I understand that there would be some kind of cost to enable a game but it`s got the same architecure, same OS kernel, in some cases a very similar if not identical CPU and GPU - but I`d think that a PC release would just be money in the bank for MS even if they used something like Steam for distro. That would never happen but 30% of something is better than 0% of nothing or worse a lot of potential. It`s like BlackBerry and BBM which is now about 2 years too late.
 

opmopadop

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"PC gamers will still need to rely on Crytek, 2K Games, Electronic Arts and others to provide quality, AAA titles for the PC."
Wait, what?
 

DirectXtreme

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I'm sure someone will find a way to emulate Xbox One games on Windows within no time. After all, the hardware found in the Xbox One is basically the hardware found in consumer PCs (x86 CPU, DDR3 RAM, GPU which supports DirectX) and it also runs a Windows kernel and DirectX. Nice try Microsoft but you still haven't killed PC gaming.
 

shikamaru31789

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Think about it, it really wouldn't be smart to release the Xbox One's exclusives on PC. Exclusives sell consoles, if gamers could get the Xbox One's exclusives on PC, that takes away one of the main reasons to get an Xbox One. Exclusives are the main thing that's going to get people buying the Xbox One, in spite of it's negatives like used game DRM and once per 24 internet connection requirement. If the Xbox One lost it's exclusives, the only people buying it would be CoD gamers and those that want it to control their TV. But with MS's increased focus on exclusives this gen, they stand a good chance at 2nd place behind Sony, (and might just stand a chance at first if these recent rumors about Sony having similar Used Game DRM and online play fees are true). MS doesn't make much from PC gaming, all they'd get for releasing the exclusives on PC is a few OS sales and slightly increased sales per game, whereas they sell $400 consoles and Xbox Live subscriptions by keeping those exclusives on the Xbox One.
 

everygamer

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Quote (Dan Corrin): You know, the desktop gamer, the one who makes up most of your profits from operating system sales...
Response: Actually, the vast majority of PC sales go to casual gamers, people not buying PC's to play games but to use them for pretty much anything else. Windows PC's make up about 90+% of the market, the lion share of that is business purchasing desktops, then its home PC's for normal web + document + email + content (entertainment) use and then its PC gamers.
In general, Microsoft doesn't have to do anything special for gamers. The hardware industry and gaming industry is already PC centric, that is why there are 6x more games released for the PC platform than Mac OSX. With Mac OSX being the biggest competitor for Windows in the market, and only holding 8% of the market share, it is a given that PC game developers will be releasing their product for the PC platform to reach the largest audience ... so Microsoft doesn't really need to worry about that group, its a given. What they need to do is make sure the casual computer user doesn't switch to Mac OSX due to the popularity of Apple products like the iPhone/iPad. Apple has seen their market share double in the last 5 years (4% to 8%). They don't want that to get any more traction.
 

everygamer

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In short, it's just downright cheaper and quicker to produce AAA titles on one hardware set than it is on an infinite number of hardware configurations. That's presumably why app developers flock to Apple's iOS first despite the closed system and 30-percent cut.
Actually, the reason that developers flock to Apple (and Android) is because the tools allow anyone with a computer to build a game and publish in those markets. Very few game development companies that were around before smartphone markets actually port-publish games in the mobile space. The mobile space is more indie centric game development, or first time developers. The big budget developers, putting together AAA titles don't need to concern themselves with the mobile market because to step up from the mobile market to the AAA space is the difference of a game that costs $0 to $50,000 (mobile) jumping to $15-$20 million in development costs. The investment barrier is so huge that the AAA developers are not worrying about the mobile developers cutting into their space directly. Plus the mobile developers are building for the casual gamer market, not the hard core gamer market that would drop $400 on a game console.
Lastly, the PC gamer market has been going as strong as ever over the years, retail sales decreases have been due to transitions to direct online sales, MMO subscription and F2P models. The disc driven nature of console games is keeping them tied to the retail space, though I don't expect for very long (5 years max).
 

linford585

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Tom's Hardware does allow editing! It also allows quoting :)

Edit: Edited this to add this edit :)
 

bigdragon

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Not surprising given that this is the same company that decided to turn desktops and laptops into toy-like tablet touch machines with Metro. Hey, at least my PC won't be spying on me and tracking my habits with an always-on Kinect sensor like the XBone's!
 

falchard

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I don't think Microsoft sees the big picture here. Right now Microsoft will end up losing money on every console they sell. If they sell the OS for $50, they will make money, and let the consumer worry about meeting the hardware.
In all honesty Xbox exclusive titles would never cut it in the PC gaming space. Their top games at best are considered mediocre to PC counterparts.
 
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