Speaking in an interview with ShackNews, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has lashed out at Microsoft's Games For Windows Live system, implying that Microsoft don't know how to appeal to the PC gamer market.
Wardell even goes as far as to say that, if Microsoft keep up with Games For Windows Live and if it reaches a position where GFWL is the de facto standard, then he'll stop making PC games.
Games For Windows Live is Microsoft's attempt to replicate Xbox Live on the PC with an all-in-one marketplace, friends, copy-protection and auto-update system built directly into the games. Unfortunately, it's not proven popular with gamers or critics - and we've had a fair deal of problems with it too.
"I started out as a big Games for Windows Live advocate," said Wardell. "I intended for Elemental to be on Games for Windows Live, but then as we got closer, the Xbox group took it over more and more. And they have things where, oh, if you want to use Games for Windows Live to update your game, you have to go through [their] certification. And if you do it more than X number of times, you have to pay money. It's like, "My friends, you can't do that on the PC."
"On the console, I don't have to update my game because an anti-virus program got an update and is now identifying my VB scripts as viruses and I have to apply an emergency patch. That would just add insult to injury. We've had to upgrade our games plenty of times over the years, not because we found some bug, but because some third-party program, or driver, or whatever screwed it up."
"If Games for Windows Live maintains that strategy and they take over, I'm done," he added. "I'm not making PC games. I would be done."
Let us know what you think of Games For Windows Live in the forums.
Wardell even goes as far as to say that, if Microsoft keep up with Games For Windows Live and if it reaches a position where GFWL is the de facto standard, then he'll stop making PC games.
Games For Windows Live is Microsoft's attempt to replicate Xbox Live on the PC with an all-in-one marketplace, friends, copy-protection and auto-update system built directly into the games. Unfortunately, it's not proven popular with gamers or critics - and we've had a fair deal of problems with it too.
"I started out as a big Games for Windows Live advocate," said Wardell. "I intended for Elemental to be on Games for Windows Live, but then as we got closer, the Xbox group took it over more and more. And they have things where, oh, if you want to use Games for Windows Live to update your game, you have to go through [their] certification. And if you do it more than X number of times, you have to pay money. It's like, "My friends, you can't do that on the PC."
"On the console, I don't have to update my game because an anti-virus program got an update and is now identifying my VB scripts as viruses and I have to apply an emergency patch. That would just add insult to injury. We've had to upgrade our games plenty of times over the years, not because we found some bug, but because some third-party program, or driver, or whatever screwed it up."
"If Games for Windows Live maintains that strategy and they take over, I'm done," he added. "I'm not making PC games. I would be done."
Let us know what you think of Games For Windows Live in the forums.
RELATED ARTICLES
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.