Is it that time of year again? Microsoft's bi-annual rededication to PC Gaming!

Genghiz Cohen

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/455572/microsoft-renewing-focus-on-pc-gaming/

Microsoft will renew its focus on the PC as a gaming platform, according to Xbox corporate vice president Phil Spencer.

Where have I heard this before?

super_furry

Bring back Games for Windows Live! Everyone loved that, right?

And while we're at it, more tiles and less start buttons for Windows please.

Oh wait, it's just Forza 5, a game so lousy with microtransactions that it should be on iPhone.

Sarky

I assume by 'focus on pc' they mean 'try to make pc owners buy an XBone by restriction of choice dressed up as "features"'.

gizmo

They had a chance to turn things around when they hired Jason Holtzman from Valve but his departure after six months indicated that they're not just a company without a vision for PC gaming but they're one without a desire to advance it either. No amount of bluster from Spencer is going to change this.

If they want people to take notice then greenlight a AAA PC-orientated title or hell, a PC port of one of your XBox One projects. Anything outside of that should be treated with the same level of disinterest they showed GFWL over the years.

Shiminay

I'd say that if they just made sure Direct x 12 works well with vija card manufacturers and that they encourage all XBone licencees to port to PC (and given the similarity in architecture, it really shouldn't be a big ask), then that'd be plenty for me. I figure Valve must be offering some sort of alternative to Direct X for the SteamOS, so I'd suggest MS takes a similar tack and make things as easy as possible as a service provider and not worry about being a content provider.

gizmo

Shiminay wrote: »

I'd say that if they just made sure Direct x 12 works well with vija card manufacturers and that they encourage all XBone licencees to port to PC (and given the similarity in architecture, it really shouldn't be a big ask), then that'd be plenty for me. I figure Valve must be offering some sort of alternative to Direct X for the SteamOS, so I'd suggest MS takes a similar tack and make things as easy as possible as a service provider and not worry about being a content provider.

One could assume that any form of "encouragement" in that respect would need to be financial and that, unfortunately, is what the seem to be unwilling to do. As for the architectural differences between the platforms, I would have hoped the fact that it took the Turn 10 guys four man months to port the Forza 5 renderer alone to the PC and that it was running on a Titan Black would be enough to dispel the notion that porting was as trivial process as it was being made out to be.

ScumLord

I understand Microsoft can make more money out of their console but it always surprised me they didn't make bigger claims on the PC, they treat it like the black sheep of the family that no one wants to talk about.

Maybe they just took it for granted and it's the likes of the steam box that is making them realise someone could come in and steal their market place out from under them.

Maybe they see the oculus rift and think they can join into the VR market without the major cost of developing their own kit?

The PC seems to be making a comeback and it tends to keep anyone that switches as it's such a dependable and unique platform.

ShadowHearth

Well, I am pretty sure MS hates PC as gaming platform. It directly cuts in to Xbox sales. Imagine all the games PC gamers bought and MS did not got a cut, like they would from Xbox games.

I am afraid that MS will pull some **** on this. Might sell us XBOX PC LIVE! So we have to subscription and all the EXPERIENCES we missing out! :pac:

KilOit

PC gaming as a whole must outpace all consoles combined when you add PC hardware + games
how would these big company's Like nvidia, ati, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI etc survive without people gaming on their PC. developers buy high tech hardware to make these games and gamers buy hardware to play them.
Not a whole lot of company's or professions need cutting edge computer tech for their day to day stuff, yeah some designers and labs would use fast cpu's etc but i'd imagine there are more gamers.
I can see why Microsoft are keen on PC gaming, i think consoles are too stagnant and just hold advancement back, wasn't the ps3 sold for a loss for years? can't imagine they're making huge bucks on ps4 either.

Just my opinion, could be complete bull**** though

grizzly

Renewing focus on PC gaming - otherwise know as "PC gamer 2014: Windows 8 shill edition".

super_furry

I'd love to see the Xbox v PC sales when it comes to Titanfall. It's now real way to judge but I don't know of one person playing it on Xbox while a good few of my friends are getting stuck into it on PC.

gizmo

super_furry wrote: »

I'd love to see the Xbox v PC sales when it comes to Titanfall. It's now real way to judge but I don't know of one person playing it on Xbox while a good few of my friends are getting stuck into it on PC.

Well it's not out on the XBox 360 yet so it's a bit of an unfair comparison. :pac:

Now, if you mean XBox One, well that will also depend on how many of your friends own said new console. I'd imagine the number is pretty low currently?

Robert ninja

Intel, Nvidia and AMD joined hands and all agreed that OpenGL (and therefore linux) is better and therefore the future of gaming. Maybe this has scared MC and they feel that if they're left in the dust when it comes to PC gaming all they'll have is the XBOne which won't last the lifespan of the 360 given the speed of consumer level tech advancement (mainly in GPUs).

MadYaker

Does this mean more xb1 exclusives appearing on PC? If so then I'm all in favour of it.

gizmo

Robert ninja wrote: »

Intel, Nvidia and AMD joined hands and all agreed that OpenGL (and therefore linux) is better and therefore the future of gaming. Maybe this has scared MC and they feel that if they're left in the dust when it comes to PC gaming all they'll have is the XBOne which won't last the lifespan of the 360 given the speed of consumer level tech advancement (mainly in GPUs).

This didn't happen.

There was a talk at GDC, which featured speakers from the above three companies, that covered the advantage OpenGL has over DirectX in terms of driver overhead but that was also one of the key areas MS later focused on in their keynote where they unveiled DirectX 12 and discussed the improvements within. A keynote, I may add, at which nVidia also featured, where they in turn discussed their driver level improvements in the new DX.

Things are certainly changing but like the above mentioned embrace of an alternate OS as the "future", it's not going to happen any time soon.

MadYaker wrote: »

Does this mean more xb1 exclusives appearing on PC? If so then I'm all in favour of it.

Not games published via Microsoft Games Studios unfortunately. During the follow up questions from the recent unveiling of DX12 at GDC they said the following...

Microsoft tells us the PC Forza demo "was simply a rendering tech demo to showcase the power and ease of development for DX12. We have no plans to release Forza Motorsport 5, or any other Microsoft Studios Xbox One title on PC." When asked about specific enhancements for Xbox One, Microsoft confirmed that DX12 was on the roadmap for the console, but "beyond that, we have nothing more to share."

ScumLord

KilOit wrote: »

PC gaming as a whole must outpace all consoles combined when you add PC hardware + games
how would these big company's Like nvidia, ati, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI etc survive without people gaming on their PC.

They all make hardware for a lot more than gaming. Asus makes laptops, gigabyte make all sorts of components and Nvidia has the CAD market where they charge way more for the graphics cards than they do for the gaming ones.