Microsoft will probably abandon PC gamers again due to subpar sales

Windows 10 Games sales will be piss poor, worse than Xbox One's game sales and Microsoft will move back to traditional console exclusivity in 2018 as that will prove more profitable and make the Xbox brand valuable again.

Just my 2cents. Discuss.

No data. And unfortunately for you, consoles are basically watered down PC's, you do exactly what we do but have no freedom.

I have my reasons for gaming on PC which go beyond graphics and FPS.

That's because their games weren't released on other mediums, such as steam or Origin or GoG. And them being win 10 exclusives didn't help either.

The fact that Windows Store is bad, especially the UWP thing just kept PC gamers off of these games. Plus the god-awful optimizations.

Not with this new Nadella Services CEO.

He's all about growing the Windows 10 ecosystem.

He wants that platform to be as big as windows 7 was.

He needs all games on it and to get everyone on board

Win10 Store + PS4 will be all I need in my gaming life., Steam doesn't belong on microsoft eco system. They didn't build windows 10.

PC as a platform will grow and still is, Microsoft have nothing to do with this, yes it's the most widely used "OS" but there are plenty of others.

Also OS's don't just stop being usable, they become legacy and will live on forever much like consoles.

Microshaft first messed up with GFWL, now this Store is just the same thing but much much worse.

MS is giving this time, and they need to.

Not like in the good old GFWL days where they were like: "Oh, you guys don't want to pay for online ? Well **** you guys, have fun with this service we're abandoning"

This is a different MS.

Not sure how it will work since their games will be crossbuy.

But they can detect which version the buyer purchased and which the buyer played, they will see Xbox sales at an alright standard and the Windows 10 sales at a far lower standard despite the humongous difference in userbases (20 million vs 300 million).

Cause there is no reason to give a shit about the windows store as longest you have much better options to choose from such as steam, gog, origin and so on.

That's true. If they want it to succeed they are going to have to take their time. It won't happen overnight.

I don't understand this argument. Everyone talks about the Windows store like you have to launch it to play the games you own. That's not true. I own Gears UE, RoTTR, and KI on PC and I have desktop icons. Just click and play.

Eh, I'm under no illusions. If Microsoft's latest venture into PC gaming ultimately flops again, they will have no one to blame but themselves, for any combination of the following: selling on a less popular digital distribution platform / selling on an objectively inferior digital distribution platform / selling products that fail to meet common expectations of PC gamers / failing to optimise their games for the platform correctly / simply failing to produce games of enough critical acclaim to attract PC gamers.

And in case people think Microsoft know what they're doing, Halo 2 Vista stands as monument to all the ways they can royally screw up a PC release. Remember Halo 2 Vista.

Eh, at least it will be a fun ride while it lasts.

Question is, will it be Microsoft's fault again or the players?

They already said that they will release games on steam

The Windows 10 store is a joke. There's nothing there for dedicated gamers, besides like 3 games. Either do it right or sell them on good platforms like Steam and Origin.

@FreedomFreeLife:

As I mentioned in the other thread, we have no idea what and how they will release on Steam yet. They could yet screw it all up.

Remember Halo 2 Vista.

As long as Steam and GOG don't abandon PC games I say I don't care what MS does.

If PC sold $100 worth of copies and Consoles sold $1000 worth of copies, what option would you pick?
A - $100
B - $1000
C - $100 + $1000
Assuming that the resources required to port a game to PC is seperate from the resources used elsewhere, there is zero disadvantage to porting a game to PC so long as it profits.

Unless they start moneyhatting devs to only release on their store.

What they need to do is start working with publishers to get games on their windows store. Then, in a gesture of good faith, they should probably let you buy a game on Windows store and also get a Steam key with it or something. Something drastic like that is the only way people are going to take them seriously.

@ten_pints:

Unlikely. Maybe in happier times and with Steve Ballmer as boss, Microsoft might be willing to splash the dollars just to carve a foothold into a market.

But not now. Not when revenue is stagnant or falling. Not with the far more pragmatic Satya Nadella at the helm.

Microsoft's entire E3 and last 12 months sort of disprove you... but okay.

I like they are at least trying. Going against Steam is going to be a major hurdle.

Make 0 difference to pc gamers - because pc gamers don't care

You totally dont get it, a purchase on Xbox = a purchase on Windows 10. They are one and the same thing now. XboX Scorpio is quite literally Microsoft version of the "Steam-boxes". Because MS finally realises that a fight with Sony is pointless, the winner is still a crappy runner up. The real fight is with Steam.

Microsoft has decided that it don't have to separate Win10 gamers and Xbox gamers and lump them together. It is more likely in the future that MS will dump manufacturing Xbox hardware altogether and simply focus on an app store when tablets become more powerful.

Honestly, you could take all xbox exclusives back right now and I wouldn't care. What Xbox has that PC doesn't at this point:

Halo, your consolide shooter ? You can keep it.

Forza ? We have Project Cars, Asset Corsa and NFS.

The only remotely interesting thing is left for Xbox is GoW only becase I like the post apocalyptic setting.

So yeh, you xbots should be grateful that your big brother PC is bailing you out of the shithole you got yourself currently in.

Without PC helping you recover losses, Xbox as a console would be already dead.

No one cares... They don't care... So we don't care. NO ONE WANTS TO BUY GAMES FROM THEM.

They can either "deal with it" or put games on other stores. Pretty simple really.

Plus I'm sick and tired of making countless accounts for everything.

Since its cross buy the split doesn't matter, UWP means its essentially one code base. If they sold a million games they sold a million games. Everybody wins.

And very few people will care.

Yeah PC sales are piss poor. Overwatch just reached 10 million players, which is nothing.

You on the otherhand, have no data. You just pulled that claim out of your arse.

That didn't make any sense

PC gaming market total revenues = $32 billion

Console gaming market total revenues (all consoles combined) = $25,1 billion

Data from January 2016. Read more here.

Discuss.

MS is going and staying PC....they will also be releasing first party titles on Steam

Says Phillip

"I look at Steam today, it's on an incredible growth trajectory. It's a massive force in gaming; a positive force. I think it will be bigger a year from now than it is today. And five years later it will still be bigger again," he said. "I look at Valve as an important [independent software vendor] for us on Windows. They are a critical part of gaming's success on Windows. I don't think Valve's hurt by not having our first-party games in their store right now. They're doing incredible well. We will ship games on Steam again."

Xbone fanboys damage control :lol:

MS wants to compete with Valve, like they do with Sony.

Except they just announced that they are pushing their games back to Steam...

As a console gamer we have Project Cars, NFS & and soon Asseto Corsa, but hey don't let me stop you with your PC elitest crap.

They are just getting started. MS will throw money at this until they get an entry point to really compete with Valve. At the end of the day most people will buy at the store that offers the best deals. Being able to play across platforms add value. I'm sure MS will also secure exclusive stuff with publishers for the PC platform. That being said, thus far I have not felt for a sec that I wanna boot up their store, so they have a long (and expensive) road ahead of them.

Well, I see it more as a problem with selling PC games as an App. I'll probably purchase games from their store because I want to play those games. If they were alternatively available on Steam I'd get them there.

So far MS/Xbox has shown that it sorta knows what gamers want and they have improved the feature set of the UWP since launch. I'll be waiting for Gamescom to see what they do in terms of Modding and overlay support. If they fix the problems and build up a proper store+ interface then there is no real reason to hate other than the annoyance of having to go between two platforms (Steam and WinStore).

its not so much that I think the UWP is evil or trying to monopolize gaming, its that the games are reduced to Apps like my PC is a phone or tablet. Its just knowing that the game could be better.

PC gamers were doing fine without Microsoft.

Yeah, and that is confusing to me.

Elitist crap? We funded Project Cars and Asseto Corsa. We don't need MS charity. We were quite fine without MS for the last decade. We don't need you, it's you who needs us to save your little console brand. So be grateful.

When you think about it, it all comes down to being in control of games in the living room/office/desk, and staying in the consumer market.

Steam has the biggest chunk of the PC market (Office/desk) and Sony now has the biggest chunk of the Living room.

Apple, Google, and Nintendo dominate handhelds.

MS has the smallest piece of the pie in every aspect of the markets they are in. All they want is to be competitive and so far they aren't.

MS used to be 90% of the PC world with windows, now with mobile phones, smart TV, Tablets, and a resurgence in Playstation MS is last in every market they are in except for desktop/laptop computers, and that market is SHRINKING and MS knows it. Thus the push to rebrand Xbox and Windows together. It's all about an old Software company being late to industry trends and failing to adapt to changing markets. It's why Apple and Google dominate and MS is playing catch up. Heck it's why Sony is getting the Playstation name into TV, Music, and movies.

Don't be surprised if in another 20 years MS goes the way of IBM(which from a business standpoint might not be a bad thing)

I think they still have lots of room to improve (or at least try) before throwing in the towel. They really haven't put any big killer apps up exclusively on their store.

As for supporting their "play it anywhere" initiative, I think they should jump onto what GOG is doing, where through use of the Steam API users can access participating games in their library that allow for them to be accessed on either service, so Steam users can get the GOG DRM-free install files to play their games. Maybe MS can do this to expand on their "play it anywhere" initiative.

We, We, We, We, i'm glad you speak for the entire PC community. If you think MS is only doing it to "save" the Xbox brand, then why did MS try it before with GFWL, what was you PC gamers saving then?

So PC gamers helped fund these games and yet they still went to console to collect the cash. Don't be upset with console gamers be upset with the creators of these games for not keeping them exclusive.

If you don't want to play these game you don't have to, but if your aim was to come across as a PC elitist, congrats you're a smashing success :)

Even though Microsoft won't directly sell the games, I imagine they still make a hefty profit when games a bought on things like Steam. Should be enough of an initiative.