Microsoft Owns PC - Steam and Epic are just stores

Lol company cannot own personal computer ?

im confused about the win for MS part, not sure what you mean.

Anyway storefronts/launchers are not platforms. Its just the nature of PC because the hardware is available to any online stores that want to compete. Battle.net, steam, origin, epic store, would not call any of these platforms.

Many companies exclusively put their games on their own launchers to avoid paying 3rd party stores.

Thats kinda like comparing switch and ps4, to origin and battlenet, doesn't make sense, they are just free launchers to start your game, sure they can have additional features but its really just to launch it, they are all free as far as im aware.

PC is one platform with a collection of services. There are simply too many services available (origin, uplay, steam, store launchers, etc.) with too much crossover to consider them separate platforms. In the same way, a console is a platform supporting subsidiary services like Netflix or Spotify. I think it comes down to needing an overarching term that encompasses all the services one has access to and 'platform' fits the bill.

The Epic vs Steam conflict matters because it has an influence on future industry policies. Namely the opt in reviews, the anticonsumer method of exclusivity Epic is employing, and digital refund policies. I personally think those are considerably farther reaching consequences than dividing friends lists.

Eh, just having some fun - a lot of MS fans have argued that any game played anywhere on Windows is still a point for MS because it's on "their platform" and you "had to buy Windows to play it". Personally, I'm inclined to say that's reaching, but I don't really care - just seemed like a good two-fer to slip it in there

Epic i believe has put in a refund policy similar to steams now, the opt in reviews i dont mind because i dont take steam reviews with a grain of salt. People are review bombing the older metro games on steam as we speak cus they are mad about it not on steam, not a valid reason to give a great game from the past a low rating.

@jeezers: ah i gotcha, yeah id say its win software wise for MS, but not a hardware win if they play games on windows store.

no one and no company owns PC gaming , that's why I love this platform ... freedom

PC is a platform with a variety of stores. I don't understand the confusion. There is room for some degree of confusion if all these stores required a different OS but they are factually Apps all running on the same OS. The platform is Windows.

EDIT: If you buy a game from any store, its a credit to the store. That will also apply to the Windows store. I am still confused by the supposed confusion.

If true then that's great news, I really like Steam's refund policy. I agree that people abuse user reviews by review bombing and the gamers review bombing metro are being crybabies. Regardless, I would still rather have that than the alternative. Review bombing works, it affects sales, it grabs the publishers attention. They don't need any more help getting sales from the store, I'm all for consumer freedom/power. I condemn review bombing in cases like metro, but in others I support it (ex: if they release a game that's broken on launch and riddled with microtransactions).

But Steam runs on more than one OS - and shares games, mods, trophies, community across those.

And it doesn't share any of those things with XBox store or Epic. Indeed, they don't even all share the same games.

So confused. Much gray area for my gray matter

Steam is the only one of the many listed that runs on another platform outside of Windows. Windows is the platform, every storefront is simply an App on the Windows platform. Just like IOS and Android. So, there is no "gray area".

@XVision84: I usually just check metacritic, review sites, youtube reviews. Steam reviews are pretty bottom of the barrel, half of them are just guys trying to say something funny. I dont mind it but i dont love it lol

Once again. PC is hardware. Windows is an open-platform operating system for PC. Steam and Epic Store are digital platforms that can be used on Windows. Windows is on 90 percent of all PCs due it's popularity. Being that Windows is open-platform, anyone can develop software and create on it without paying Microsoft a royalty. Obtaining Windows itself is a one-time cost. Microsoft does not own the hardware you choose to put their OS on. Bill Gates is not hiding in your closet with a bat*.

*This part I'm not real sure on.

No idea, all I know is Steam has been largely good, Microsoft tried to shit all over pc gaming and Epic's business practices suck.

If anyone was ever in a position to try and lock down PC gaming then it's Microsoft. They've tried in the past and failed. Valve have the most important store front with Steam but they have never locked anything bar their own games to it. Epic are trying to create a developer safe space by being anti-consumer but when developers start losing money and sales because of them being locked to Epic they'll soon stop.

With this battle brewing between PC gamers and Epic, Epic will blink first, just ask MS how well they got on with Games for Windows Live.

@BenjaminBanklin: for the record - I don't agree with my title. I was having fun.

This thread gave me a headache :(

Wait, so the gaming platform has nothing to do with the games and services? It's just the OS? So Linux is a different platform from Windows, even if you're using Steam on both? My PC has two platforms on it? - Linux and Windows; not one (PC) or 7 (all the frigging apps with different games and different communities and features)?

Some can be good (usually the most upvoted ones are more "professional"), but I agree they tend to be way more miss than hit lol. I do the same as you (metacritic, review sites, youtube, and also what devs made it) which is why I'd prefer to have as much info at my disposal instead of epic/publishers telling me what I can and can't know about the game.

Basically this. Ms should actually have an advantage but they went out of it the wrong way and f up.

In spite of Gabe im rooting for Epic. I hope they light a fire under his ass. Gabe put valve in a coma for his store front. I was a valve fanboy, valves games are what got me into PC gaming.

Im disgusted by what they have turned into, just a 3rd party storefront that overly charges game developers to be apart of their monopoly because every PC gamer has steam by default. Been using steam since i was 12 and im 26 now, I welcome epic with open arms and i hope they get even more aggressive and force gabe out of his hot tub.

Maybe then we might get HL3 or TF3 and not shitty card games littered with micro transactions.

Firstly, what are you talking about and where was that statement made in my comment? Steam is a store front that is available on two platforms, Windows and Linux. Where and what is the confusion? And another What are you talking about with your last question?

Jajajajaa Ronvalencia does believe MS own the PC market, just like he believe that MS still selling xbox 360 because the xbox one play some 360 games so every xbox one sold also = another 360 sold. lol

Um, you literally just rewrote what I asked about. So - I have two platforms on my PC, Linux and Windows. Not one. Not 7.

Where and what is the confusion?

You know I'm just having fun with this thread, but in truth I think people mold the narrative about what "counts" to suit whatever their SW angle is and they do this by taking advantage of the complex open nature of gaming on a computer.

Yes! Not sure what we are discussing here.

I don't know, you said "So confused. Much gray area for my gray matter".

The what counts for the folks that care, is if a company profits from a sale. Its that simple. In the MS scenario, any game bought in the Windows Store benefits MS in the same manner that any game bought in Steam, GOG, Amazon or whatever storefront. However, the publisher nets more when they get purchases from their own storefront.

Listen. Understand. Ron is out there. He can't be reasoned with, he can't be bargained with... He doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear...and he absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead.

Taking Ron seriously is a foolish venture. Its almost like taking you seriously but you have more moments of logical reasoning than him. :)

@fedor:

Lol

LOOOOOOL, I guess when their favourite plastic box is failing them they have to take desperate measures.

To address the forum: Microsoft doesn't own PC, they own the windows operating system but thats about it. If I had used Mac or Linux instead what would the fanboys say about it? yeah their whole point gets flushed down the toilet. The Lems should just admit that the Xbox is far behind the competition and leave this gen to Sony and Nintendo, they won last gen, they lost this one, give next gen a shot, look to the future (even though I think all consoles should just die or at the very least make all games multiplat so that I don't get relegated to playing fantastic games at the worst resolution and with choppy frames per second because the console manufacturers didn't have faith in their plastic boxes selling on their own merit.)

Just like @GarGx1 explain it perfectly, PC is an open-platform, MS had their minds finding ways to charge PC gamers only because they saw how console gamers can be brainwash into paying Gold. It was in MS minds charging PC gamers but all that blow up in MS face cause alot of PC gamers got upset and MS quietly killed that idea.

MS really doesn't own PC, PC is an open-platform for everyone and the idea is all about freedom for the gamers.

So does AMD own xbox because its hardware is AMD based...

Well, Nvidia isn't coming back for console support, so I guess AMD would be the logical conclusion. Not to mention, Navi will be on PS5 if the rumors are to go by.

they're just stores/launchers

Although if you wanted you can pretty much launch any game from steam, and maintain the overlay with friends list and chat. Think the same could be done with the likes of discord

PC is the platform and Steam/GOG/etc are the storefronts. As for the MS "win" thing, i'm fine with them counting toward the respective libraries against the systems that don't have the games, but not exclusive by our definition (flawed as it can be.)

Platforms are no longer defined by hardware alone. PC is just hardware. It can support different platforms. MS doesn't get a dime from anyone running Linux on the same hardware. MS also don't have anything to do with games built to run on Open GL.

Heh :p

We're at a hot and sweaty 50/50

Since we are on the topic, is cuphead a MS exclusive anymore since it is available on Mac?

PC is one platform, and MS exclusive games may be a win for MS, but this is system wars, not corporation wars. :P

@Gamerno6666: Really never was, was available on steam and gog day 1.

Does microsoft gets a percentage from steam? If no then steam is a platform

I think an OS is a platform. MS Windows, Linux, SteamOS and MacOS are all of them. Oh yeah and iOS and Android.

@sakaixx: Only if they own the ip. So no since all their ip's are exclusive to their storefront.

@fedor: noted. since Microsoft didn't directly profit off Steam/others in pc gaming, Steam is a platform.

@xantufrog: I could see the argument if the game is first party and it runs exclusively through Xbox Live (pc or xbone).

If it's a pc game that came to Xbox it's kind or reaching.

@crashnburn281: I agree

I don’t understand the poll.

Microsoft has no exclusives and therefore loses.