Microsoft Sees Games for Windows Live As Good Value for the Money
By Chris on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 12:39 PM PST In Computer, Game Companies, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Microsoft
When Games for Windows and the GFW Live initiatives were launched, I was very excited. An Xbox Live-style system on PC seemed like a great idea in terms of having a unified friends list (and messaging, Marketplace, etc.) across all games that was built-in, rather than an extra layer on top like Xfire. Then came Steam Community which essentially blew GFW Live out of the water. When you factor in how few games actually support Live, it’s a no contest.
In an interview with Eurogamer, GFW senior global director Kevin Unangst was asked if he thought gamers were getting good value for their money and how that value stacks up against what Xbox Live subscribers get for the same price.
Aside from making it clear that you don’t need to actually pay to play online, he said, “We have gotten the feedback that says, ‘There’s no Marketplace’, ‘Where are all the other features Xbox Live Gold members get?’ The users have to decide – has it been worth USD 5 per month, or less, to play with my friends on the games I care about? It’s really only been Shadowrun and Universe at War. Particularly if you’re only playing games like Universe of War, I think it’s been a good deal.
“But are we talking to the partners and understanding how to get clearer? Will we continue to invest to bring more value? Absolutely. It’s really only been 10 months on the market. We had to build from there, and I think you’ll see more things from us in the future.”
He’s right, it only has been 10 months; but Steam Community has been out there for a shorter amount of time than that and we’ve seen numerous updates and upgrades. Microsoft says they’re listening to feedback, but where are all of the GFW updates?
Unangst said the main goals for Microsoft at this point are to make it clearer that you don’t need to pay to play and to add more value to the service. He wouldn’t talk about any sort of timeframe for when the Marketplace or anything else might appear on PCs, other than saying it’s “a direction we’re definitely headed in.”
Not. Worth. It. Why pay for multiplayer for a game you played for, when the open source equivalents allow you to mod it, play it online for free, and some even release weekly updates, with plenty of mod communities.
Think Glest, or Cube. Excellent replacements to UaW (though I can recommend it) or Shadowrun. Though lord knows nobody’s gonna play Shadowrun with its botch ups, unless it gets mod support and a good community. And more of the original RPG.
I enjoy Shadowrun with flavor, not mindless deathmatches that take out the two best things from it and puts it in a near-alien world, with things blatantly going against fundamental rules.
So sorry Microsoft, but you aint getting my money! Why should we have to pay for an online service when 1. We payed for the game already 2. We payed for the internet already 3. We have been gaming online for free for ages.
This is one of the reason i got a PS3 over and XBox360, I aint gonna pay for something thats now considered essential to have in games! Half the experience in modern games comes from beating other people round th globe!
Here’s my list of 10 things that are wrong with GfW-Live: http://hushedcasket.com/node/2024
It’s gotten over 60,000 reads.
I’m going to write a follow-up article soon.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, I’ve been spending a lot of time using Steam lately. I’ve also been answering some email from Shadowrun users about the current state of their game. I’m afraid after almost a year, it’s been a rough ride.