What A Time To Be Alive
Member
Microsoft is never going to give that huge cut to Valve.
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Microsoft need to swallow their pride and release their games on Steam.
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righthandmouse
Banned
The_Endgamer
Member
Whaaaa!? That's crazy... Hopefully they scored a good deal but hell. I guess Ubisoft's store mustn't be that competitive.
It's not the case for any of those. All of those just give you the PC version (that is separate) when you buy the. It's just standard cross-buy.
What A Time To Be Alive
Member
.
Amusingly this used to also work the other way round - you could buy the Half-Life games and Portal 2 on Uplay - but all it would do is just open the full steam client anyway. For whatever reason, they don't sell them anymore
Kssio_Aug
Member
As a costumer I would be really, really glad to see every game of every company releasing everywhere as possible. The more the options the better! I hate MS store for many reasons, so sure... I would like to see their games on Steam too.
I just don't think they don't add their games to Steam because of pride. Some people may say that selling their games on Steam would be the best for them, I say it probably wouldn't if what they plan work out for them!
Is not fanboysism, no one can say that MS would definitely benefit more putting their games on Steam, everything is just hypotesis. Mine is that they wouldn't. Pointing at people that disagree as "defense force" or saying that MS knows nothing about it as Xbox fans also don't is what smells like fanboysism to me tbh.
GHG
Gold Member
OnionPowder
Member
Microsoft needs to work on their own platform. I don't care if your game isn't on steam as long as you curate a good platform and don't have shitty practices like UWP as a whole.
They do need to get their old games on GOG though. I would kill for some Zoo Tycoon, Midtown Madness and Mechwarrior 4
They do need to get their old games on GOG though. I would kill for some Zoo Tycoon, Midtown Madness and Mechwarrior 4
Well yeah true, Windows Store is still very poor at this point content wise.
The competition is there. Indeed Valve have taken a huge portion of the market, but rightly so since they have out competed their competitors with aplomb. Right now, the service is far ahead of everything else and developers choose to be on the service. The "open" nature of Steam, leaves it equally open for competitors to come and go. There is no restriction to how developers do business and put their games up, other services can be used in tandem with Steam or even replacing portions of it, Valve get nothing for external sales, there is no API or other restrictive lock that holds companies in some sort of restricted obedience to Steam only - there is no "monopoly" at this time.
More competitors will always be good - MS is certainly not doing a good job and hasn't for a long time, favouring its Xbox ecosystem vision of what PC gaming should be in conformance to the Xbox ecosystem rather than supporting the wealth, variety user freedoms and interoperability that PC gaming exists as - and importantly seemingly ignoring the differing direction to which PC gaming is heading in favour of its own self-interest in Xbox. They are free to make that choice and keep their games there - however, as a platform holder of all these other services that encapsulate PC gaming, it certainly runs contrary to it
Where's your source for this?
Also it's not just "standard cross-buy". It's cross save too. It's literally the same game and cross save proves that. If it was separate (a different game essentially) the save file wouldn't be compatible because well, it'd be a different game on a different platform.
NippleViking
Banned
Would it be feasible for MS to simply publish on the Steam storefront but charge $20 or so more on Steam to cover Valve's cut? I.e. if you want them cheap, buy directly for $60 from Windows store, else if you want them on Steam, pay extra and cover Valve's take?
I'd happily pay more for some of MS IP on Steam - Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon.
Forever is a very long time Pooh
ScientificPizza
Banned
LordRaptor
Member
A bit weird to use the fact that the PC is as capable as any individual console in supporting a traditional dedicated market but also capable of supporting and maintaining an expanded market well beyond any dedicated gaming devices reach against the PC, but okay.
Well thats their pricing structure for W10 games already so.... ¯\_(ツ
_/¯Vital Tundra
Member
Gross.
LOL. Wow, you could not be anymore wrong. You need more information. Your statement is incorrect.
guybrushfreeman
Unconfirmed Member
No, those are not UWP titles on Xbox One. There are still no UWP games on Xbox One at this time. It's a common misconception
flaxknuckles
Member
The shit storm that would ensue would be amazing.
Ploid 3.0
Member
They really should. They don't need to put stuff on steam, just get better, though they probably don't have enough great games for it yet, even old games. It'll probably take a while
ScientificPizza
Banned
that's............. not what this is
NippleViking
Banned
Distasteful, but don't you think it's better than zero steam support?
OnionPowder
Member
Microsoft releases stuff on Steam randomly. Just last month they released a brand new expansion pack to Age of Empires 2 only on Steam.
They're not against publishing their games on Steam, they're just using their games a trojan horse for UWP. Eventually once we get UWP games releasing on Steam they'll probably start dumping their games there.
I doubt they're even making any money on their PC ports through the windows store. Sales discrepancies for games released on Steam and the W10 store have been pretty drastic so far.
Did Tomb Raider sell better on the windows store or Steam?
I think Microsoft would be surprised how well Forza and Gears would have sold on Steam, but I do understand its not what they want, they want incentives and full cuts.
The shitty thing is they will eventually pull out again like usual blaming poor sales.
wapplew
Member
They release games on PC not to reach wider market for their games, is for this.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1331041&highlight=ios
So, it'll never happen unless they give up that dream.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1331041&highlight=ios
So, it'll never happen unless they give up that dream.
dear god oh yes (classic games especially)
You could technically play Half Life 2 without an online connection, you just needed to activate it with an online connection and then set steam to offline mode. That's what I did, I had dial up so I installed my physically copy, activated Half Life 2 on my dial up (which took longer then the install since it had to download or unlock some files, I don't remember which) and then never went online with my Steam account again until I had DSL and bought a physical copy of the Orange Box about a month after it came out.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Oh, it is no doubt. And it's a viable move. My point was that developers do not need Steam like they did back in the day, and Valve clearly does not understand that.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Don't half of steam owners have Win 10 now? If they really wanted to play it, I doubt yet another PC storefront would stop them.
But yes, MS is pretty much throwing money away by not allowing their games to be unlocked on the biggest digital platform.
But yes, MS is pretty much throwing money away by not allowing their games to be unlocked on the biggest digital platform.
KaoteK
Member
Another store wouldn't stop them, the shittyness of the platform (UWP and the store itself) certainly does. Plus there's Microsoft's previous form hanging over them.
They are going to get me with Sea of Thieves. That game looks like it be amazing to play.
Except it does, see: Steam or Bust folks.
Windows Store being shitty and UWP being godawful don't help matters, either. But since Microsoft's stuff isn't on Steam, it's an easy pass
until Phantom Dust PC
Everyone would buy from steam if given the option between the two, that doesn't prove that there are more sales though.
VincentMatts
Member
That's not true at all. Everything improves over time
Crazy Diamond
Member
I'm all for competition but when it comes to PC, if it isn't on Steam, there's a very small chance of me ever touching it. I don't have a huge problem with Origin, GOG, and the like, but the Windows Store releases are ones I absolutely cannot get behind. Start by releasing games as .exe like the rest of the world then maybe I will consider.
InquisitorAles
Member
No, they need to fix their store first and then think about releasing their games somewhere else.
CecilRousso
Member
If the price for the games being released is too high, that can stop them.
If they get a worse experience by buying the games on that store, that can stop them.
If they hear about other people having a worse experience by buying the games on the store, that can stop them.
If they read up on what Microsofts plans with this seems to be, that can stop them.
There are several games by Microsoft that I would maybe buy if they were on Steam, GOG or Humble, but when they're released on the Windows Store, there are several factors I think about that will stop me from clicking on confirm purchase there.
I already have more games then I need, so Microsoft will have to convince me to part with my money for their games, and they're right now doing a pretty bad job at it.
I do believe they should look at putting large PC games on other stores (including Steam).
The main reasons are there current approach simply has too little draw to it for serious PC gamers and is essentially doomed to failure. The small number of true exclusive big PC games they can put on the store simply isn't going to outweigh the thousands of as good or better games on Steam, GoG, etc. Also they simply have bad brand perception with PC gamers: using a few exclusive games as a lure for an underfeatured storefront/format is hardly fixing that.
They need to make a move to say "we're putting you the customer ahead of us and thus we're allowing access to these games from other stores even though we'd rather you used ours".
Over time of course they want to build various lures and benefits to shifting towards there store but for now I believe it would actually help their long term goals better to have Gears 4 widely available vs restricted just to W10 Store.
Instead let people play it wherever but have hooks back to W10store/experience whether its loyalty points,achievements or whatever. They could probably lure more people to check out their ecosystem from other stores with a larger Gears 4 install base than the small number who'll buy it from W10 Store.
But they won't. It's not pride but they're taking the stubborn approach it seems and in today's service orientated, customer first orientated consumer market its not going to cut it IMHO. Their current tactics on PC for gaming are 10 years or more out of date.
The main reasons are there current approach simply has too little draw to it for serious PC gamers and is essentially doomed to failure. The small number of true exclusive big PC games they can put on the store simply isn't going to outweigh the thousands of as good or better games on Steam, GoG, etc. Also they simply have bad brand perception with PC gamers: using a few exclusive games as a lure for an underfeatured storefront/format is hardly fixing that.
They need to make a move to say "we're putting you the customer ahead of us and thus we're allowing access to these games from other stores even though we'd rather you used ours".
Over time of course they want to build various lures and benefits to shifting towards there store but for now I believe it would actually help their long term goals better to have Gears 4 widely available vs restricted just to W10 Store.
Instead let people play it wherever but have hooks back to W10store/experience whether its loyalty points,achievements or whatever. They could probably lure more people to check out their ecosystem from other stores with a larger Gears 4 install base than the small number who'll buy it from W10 Store.
But they won't. It's not pride but they're taking the stubborn approach it seems and in today's service orientated, customer first orientated consumer market its not going to cut it IMHO. Their current tactics on PC for gaming are 10 years or more out of date.
Yeah, Ive played FH3, Gears 3, Recore on PC and it's more than just "some standard cross-play".
Osiris
I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
The thing is, most of the complaints are with respect to UWP, moreso than the Store, and they're not going to give up on UWP when it offers them the potential to completely unify their Xbox and PC gaming initiatives.
Even if they put them on Steam (Which contrary to popular opinion can by done BTW), they would *still* be UWP.
People here are not *just* asking them to put stuff on Steam, they are asking for them to do that and give up on UWP, and that is not going to happen.
cHaOs667
Member
It's already there as you can see with the latest Dropbox UWP app for example.
The only difference is that the big AAA Titles are no real UWP titles but just Win32 Apps wrapped in an UWP container.
There are tons of apps which are true UWP apps and are running on you PC, your Windows mobile and the X1.
I'm always surprised finding apps from my mobile on the X1.
LordRaptor
Member
The day win32 is running on ARM is the day UWA is as dead as WinRT because it has literally no reason to exist any more. Regardless of how much its advocates really believe when its powers combine ports are super easy.
SeeNoWeevil
Member
PC games need cross platform play with consoles.
CaviarMeths
Member
Any publisher with the leverage and strength of IP to release games through their own storefront is likely to opt to do so. EA and Blizzard can, so they do. MS will continue to as well. The fee to public on Steam is pretty damn steep, plus there are obvious benefits for big publishers to attract people into their own ecosystem.