Games for Windows goes gratis, DX11 detailed

Pay-to-play multiplayer services for all Microsoft-branded PC games now free; first info on next DirectX framework revealed.

Although Microsoft's Games for Windows brand has enjoyed ample support from third-party publishers, gamers have been less enthusiastic with its adoption than its console counterpart, Xbox Live. One of the primary reasons for the aversion is that a number of services usually taken for granted as free by PC gamers are available only for those who subscribe to Microsoft's Gold membership, which carries a $49.99 annual fee.

However, this week Microsoft is tearing down that barrier to adoption. The company has announced that effective immediately, all multiplayer components of its Games for Windows - Live service are free. All gamers will now have unlimited access to multiplayer matchmaking with friends, TrueSkill matchmaking, multiplayer achievements, and cross-platform gameplay, which were previously available only to Gold subscribers. Those features are in addition to previously gratis goods, including friend lists, text and voice chat, and single-player achievements.

The GFW - Live multiplayer update applies to both current and future games that are compatible with Microsoft's PC brand. The publisher also reiterated several announcements made during its E3 Media & Business Summit presentation, saying that a PC version of the Xbox Live Marketplace will launch this fall, and that the Windows Live in-game user interface will undergo a significant revamp. The publisher did not reveal whether the new PC interface will make use of the recently revealed Xbox Live avatar system.

In related GFW news, Microsoft also dropped a few tech-head details for the next revision to its application framework, DirectX 11. Calling DX11 "a big step forward for gaming," Microsoft said that its newest game-development tool will implement new computer-shader technology, which it claims "lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor." DX11 will also feature increased support for multicore processors and "tessellation, which blurs the line between super-high-quality prerendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time."

134 Comments

  • monkeybuttgod

    Posted May 24, 2009 6:05 pm PT

    according to microsoft, DX11 is compatible with DX10.
    i think they did that cuz everyone had to upgrade hardware from DX9 to DX10.

  • lordvalek

    Posted Jan 21, 2009 10:00 am PT

    anyone know any supported graphic cards yet for dx11? im going to be building a new rig and it 2 cards im getting with crossfire support dx10.1 apperently. just wondering if i should try to wait for dx11 or if dx10 is going to be fine

  • HellSpawn210

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 12:05 am PT

    difference is here

    http://www.techmixer.com/download-directx-10-for-windows-xp/

  • uberjannie

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 8:55 am PT

    Finally i can play GoW online without using hamachi

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Aug 10, 2008 5:53 pm PT

    " Once again MS fumbles. They finally figured out that previously FREE services on the PC didn't do so well if you charged for them! No !@$#% And to add insult to injury they make Live free for PC but you still have to pay on 360."

    Of course you have to pay for the Live service on 360. It's also notable that the 360 has the best Online features of any current gen console, and that it is so significant that Ninty and Sony are green-eyed all the way and have to make theirs free to get users on them. XBL wouldn't be half the platform it is unless MS had some sorta subscription service to maintain it in the long run. I'm very happy with the quality of service on XBL so i can't complain. Windows is now recognised as a strugging platform, so in order to help it along MS have made Live Gold features free on it. Which therefore makes Live the best way of going about PC multiplayer in the world, since it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything else that's free.

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Jul 28, 2008 9:56 am PT

    Once again MS fumbles. They finally figured out that previously FREE services on the PC didn't do so well if you charged for them! No !@$#% And to add insult to injury they make Live free for PC but you still have to pay on 360.

  • TehUndeadHorror

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 4:05 pm PT

    "THAT'S 3D BABY!!"
    Lol

  • Zloth2

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 7:53 am PT

    Make X-Box Live free? Why? PC users can go to the competition and use their stuff instead of Windows Live. X-Box Live has no competition, you must use it or stay offline. (On the minus side, I bet there's more advertising in Windows Live.)

    DX10 came out with Vista which was January 2007 (or Nov 2006). They are only giving hints of DX11 now, so, by the time it actually comes out, it will have been about two years. That's pretty normal. I wonder if you'll have to support DX10.1 to be able to say your video card supports DX11? Yes, I'm looking at you NVIDIA.

  • Darth_Trek

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 12:20 am PT

    I'm really waiting on DirectX 16. Those will be the best shaders and polygrams I can even imagine. THAT'S 3D BABY!!
    Which is the slogan they will use.

  • Phantom5800

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 7:54 am PT

    @therain93: from what I understand it is all P2P.

    And really, DX11 so soon? Many people have yet to get DX10

  • akhorahill

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 7:07 am PT

    I'm sure XBOX360 owners are pleased to know they're paying the costs of having us PC gamers on Live for free. Now that you guys are paying, I might even bother to download and try it. Thanks for your support!

  • Samuz

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 6:30 am PT

    Is the word "gratis" an english word ?
    Coming from Norway, this is the normal word for us describing that something is free of cost.

  • Agelu

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 1:36 am PT

    Wow... big news for MS.

  • Weddum

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 10:28 pm PT

    To Yuck_Too - Now lets also add the extra you have to pay for DLC and arcade games, both of which you can get for free on PC in most places anyway. It evens out in the long run.

  • canuter

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 4:13 pm PT

    I'll never understand all this 'hail steam' stuff.
    Steam users, have you ever stopped to think that you are buying games that you don't own? If Valve shuts down, you'll won't be able to play your games anymore. Steam community may be great, but full price prepaid rentals are simply unacceptable.

  • lewis2112

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 1:45 pm PT

    DirectX 11 will run on Windows Vista and its successor Windows 7. Unlike DirectX 10 it will not require new graphics card hardware specifically supporting the new API version, and will support both DirectX 10 and DirectX 10.1 hardware. no upgrades required

  • OMGitsZAL

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 12:14 pm PT

    Why can't I just keep on using Xfire?

    DX11... Hopefully it will be supported through drivers with current graphics cards. I'm not going to upgrade again.

  • snax13

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 9:03 am PT

    it would be nice to see dx10 hardware compatible with dx11 so that we wouldn't have to upgrade AGAIN.

  • therain93

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:54 am PT

    @Hvac0120 But doesn't XBL actually host servers for all of these games as well as voice chat? That would likely justify the expense of a subscription. For PC users, game and voice servers are typically hosted independently of the company, often paid for by various clans.

    Hvac0120 wrote: "How do you justify providing the XBL Gold services for free to PC gamers and still continue to force Xbox360 owners to pay a fee for the same service?

    Does this mean that XBL Gold will get a price drop or even go completely free for Xbox360 in the near future? If not, this is more upsetting than it is pleasing."

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:53 am PT

    awesome. glad i waited. i have halo 2 and hears of war to pick up now.

  • normsta

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:44 am PT

    @Hvac0120

    I know how they can justify it, money plain and simple. Look at xbl theres full of advertising yet they still charge the users.

    Hopefully xbl becomes free one day but as long as people are stupid enough to pay then they will charge. The only reason why it's free for the PC is because no one that plays PC games is stupid enough to pay for a games feature, unless it's for an MMO.
    Everyone just needs to stop paying for this nonsense just play games that allow their features to be used once you've paid full price for it. If anything M$ should charge the publishers/developers.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:21 am PT

    --Hvac0120 --
    I bet if there were only a couple thousand people using XBL they would give it away for free too.

    Why PC only players were paying for it is beyond me.

    But with 12 Million gold members paying $50 / year no way they are dropping that kind of money maker.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:18 am PT

    How do you justify providing the XBL Gold services for free to PC gamers and still continue to force Xbox360 owners to pay a fee for the same service?

    Does this mean that XBL Gold will get a price drop or even go completely free for Xbox360 in the near future? If not, this is more upsetting than it is pleasing.

    MS just came out with DX10 a couple years ago and graphics cards just started supporting it as a standard. I suppose this will make DX10 GPU's much cheaper once DX11 supported cards start to launch.

  • barn79

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 8:07 am PT

    Direct x 11.. hmm probably the next Unreal Engine will be compatible with that version... UE4 maybe? hehe.. just a guess... ^_^

  • exaltedangel01

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 7:40 am PT

    It's about time GFW was free atleast it has a chance to be comptetitive with the over options PC users have.

    As for Directx 11 all i can say is atleast its backwards compatable with 10 unlike 9/10 so they can actually make the game for Directx 11. If ur lacking gear then they will ran as Directx 10. Unlike now when they build the game for Directx 9 and try to tack on the latest features on afterwards.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 6:54 am PT

    --Weddum --
    "And people argue PC gaming is expensive? A good PC upgrade will last you 3-4 years, and set you back around $1200, people who say otherwise obviously have not used a PC with modern hardware. Now lets add up all the online fee's you accumulate playing on your 360. Not so cheap now is it?"
    ~~~
    Not sure what you used to figure that out but how about this...

    $1,200 PC / 4 years = $300 / year.
    Xbox360 + XBL over 4 years = $150 / year.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 6:49 am PT

    --darkride66 --
    "I admit, that's quite a bit of money for MS to give up by scrapping their gaming fees but I think strategically that would take away one of the PS3's biggest assets right now. I think a move like this would definitely take the wind out of Sony's sails."
    ~~~
    No...if MS was going to throw away $600 Million might as well drop the 360 price an additional $50 across the SKU's.

    That would mean $150 Arcade, $250 Prem, $350 Elite.

    That would bump sales up over 10 Million and cost the same amount. Plus the hardware has decreasing costs so the following years you would not lose out on the same money as if you scrapped XBL Gold membership.

  • jasper061992

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 5:30 am PT

    It's quite funny to see the amount of people complaining about paying for Xbox live for their 360's when the GFWL went free. Didn't you people mind paying for Xbox live prior to the release of GFW?

    Anyways, i have a 360, barely use it and sures don't know when i plan to even use xbox live. I just game on my PC.

  • Weddum

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 4:41 am PT

    You guys are not going to see 360 get Live for free anytime soon. The only reason why its been made free on PC is because there are free, and arguably better, online gaming services. Microsoft just finally woke up to themselves to realize people are not going to pay for a service they can just get for free in Xfire or Steam.

    And people argue PC gaming is expensive? A good PC upgrade will last you 3-4 years, and set you back around $1200, people who say otherwise obviously have not used a PC with modern hardware. Now lets add up all the online fee's you accumulate playing on your 360. Not so cheap now is it?

    And a PC version of Live Marketplace will also fail. We've already been getting these things for free for ages, what makes Microsoft think we'll suddenly start paying for these things?

  • mugupo

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 2:55 am PT

    DX11 aleady? probably for next windows, almost no game out there fully support DX10, they has some support but not fully.

  • mpeg3s

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 12:48 am PT

    DX11 is the foundation for the X1080

  • _Piranha_

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 12:15 am PT

    No, DX10 & Vista and DX11 & Win.7... cant wait --> WinXP and DX9.1.. )

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 11:37 pm PT

    Looking forward to it. DX11 is good for gaming across the board.

  • KhanhAgE

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 11:00 pm PT

    Nice. I guess I might start using Windows Live now. When I'm using a PC the ONLY thing I expect to pay to play are MMOs.

  • Selfdestruct9

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 10:32 pm PT

    MAKE XBL FREE, SWINE BAGS!

  • YoungDab

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 10:28 pm PT

    Could you just make XBL free/$ave me the money and maybe I might $tart buying junk from your virtual store lol.

  • Gruug

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 10:09 pm PT

    I have Vista. I play both Dx9 and Dx10 games. I love both! Have absolutely no problems with Vista and love it!

  • Vong_Assassin

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 9:28 pm PT

    Great Microsoft...now make XBL free and we'll call it a deal.

  • syn79

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 9:22 pm PT

    I think that PC gamers deserve a break on the cost of playing online, because you guys pay $600 or more for a video card that is only top of the line for six months. I download over $50 dollars worth of game demos on xbox live every year, so im not upset. I wish I had the money to keep my PC top of the line, but I spent $800 on a PC and only have a Nvid 8400. I still enjoy my directx9 games, but I need a controller in my hand, can't get used to a mouse.

  • DangerClown

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 9:13 pm PT

    Microsoft lacks credibility any time they comment on PC gaming. I agree with other posters who have said DX10 didn't live up to hype. I'm a hardcore life long PC gamer and don't see the sense in paying $250 so I can see garbage on the battllefield in Company of Heroes. I've got an 8800GT 640MB, but I'm still running XP and plan to wait for the next version of Windows, if I can hold out.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 9:01 pm PT

    Hope they get DX11 to work better then DX10 dose

  • makotech222

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 8:59 pm PT

    Okay DX 10 still hasnt shown any benefits because its exclusive to vista. game developers have to first make the dx9 version of the game and then add a few dx10 features so that they dont lose the entire base of gamers that use xp still. if they build it entirely on dx10, it would perform and look sooo much better. Its microsofts fault for making it exclusive

  • magicalclick

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 8:58 pm PT

    Interesting. WIth no announcement to new Xbox, certainly DX11 is the one they target. The Ray-Tracing from DX11 will sure make a significant jump. Oh, tessellation is already in DX10.1, so make sure not saying it is DX11 when you see it.

  • tonicmole

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 8:46 pm PT

    Seems like the Xbox 360 owners are getting screwed. Why do we have to pay?

  • Megawizard1

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 8:15 pm PT

    "DX11? and what have they done with DX10!? i sure have not seen any thing spectacular."

    I think that's why they're doing it. Hopefully they'll "downgrade" it back to be usable with XP.

  • Jd1680a

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 7:42 pm PT

    My guess Directx 11 will be avaliable by 2010. Glad to see Microsoft havent forgotten about Games for Windows.

  • lucebuce

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 7:34 pm PT

    just hope dx 11 's gonna be better than dx 10

    dx 10 , exclusive for vista , has features for games that with a little modding , can also work for dx9

    just hope dx11 isnt screwed up
    and by the way , YES FINALLY GAMES FOR WINDOWS IS TOTALLY FREE

  • BlitzkriegBob

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 7:33 pm PT

    Dont you guys remember that prior DX9(for which the rule was one of the longest of the DX), Directx versions were released much more often... From 1999 to 2003, it went from DX6 to DX9.

  • MrsNintendo

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 7:07 pm PT

    Wow.

    Be my friend, I won't bite. o.~

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 7:00 pm PT

    Good glad i got my 8800ultra when i did cuz it has lasted me well over a year and a half running everything on full. Ill just ride the monster into the age of DX11 and upgrade everything then, no point in wasting money on DX10.1 .... Oh ya... MS was really dumb for thinking PC players were gonna pay for something weve all had free since day 1 ... especially since it wasnt anything groundbreaking or amazing... gg_failmode = 1 that even kept me from getting GoW for the PC. Plus i already use steam for everything, MS is more behind in terms of the PC platform than Sony is in consoles now ...

    gzader whats the point in DX10.1 ... woohoo they have support for it. Now lets find something other than its own software that utilizes it. oh wait... its kinda like betamax right now. In terms of what ATI does, they may have a few features that nvid doesn't but the same goes both ways. SLI > Crossfire in terms of stability and compatability ... heck that ain't even a fair battle. In terms of power Nvid still has ATI beaten all over the board. Heck an 8800GT super overclocked with a 50$ water cooling system can almost outperform ATIs top of the line cards (not including the x2s ... those are 2 cards, and if u stack 2 8800GTs together it wipes ATIs single duelie out.)

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