Microsoft vs. Steam: Gearbox Says Silos are “Hurting the PC Industry For Gamers”
Speaking to the London Games Festival, Gearbox has called upon Valve and Microsoft to try and bridge the divide between Games for Windows Live and Steam as their new blockbuster Duke Nuke ‘em Forever is due for release.
Typically, you’d only expect game developers and publishers to battle over compatibility for different systems (be it Mac, PC, Xbox, Commodore, PlayStation etc.). However, with the fairly recent inception of digital marketplaces like Steam and Games for Windows Live, we’re seeing this dichotomy on the PC where people who purchase a game on Steam aren’t able to play with someone who bought the boxed or the Games for Windows version.
Gearbox’s Head of marketing, Steve Gibson said:
[We] want people to be able to play together and right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam – they can’t play together…
Our big concern right now is that these silos are being built. Everybody’s separating out and it’s really… as a developer who just wants gamers to be able to play games together, it’s frustrating right now. Things like that are hurting the PC industry for gamers. This is frustrating for everybody right now.
Which is a valid complaint. All of these customers are playing the game on the same platform (that is, PC, Mac etc.). If one buys the game through one outlet, Games for Windows, say, and another gets it through Steam (because it’s after Christmas and the sky is falling because of the annual sale) they ought to be able to play it together.
I’m sure there are some workarounds developers can do to get their multiplayer to work on all of these versions of the game (like not using the framework for netcode provided by each individual service, which probably makes you lose out on a lot of functionality like achievements and using the built-in friends lists) but suppliers should be making this easier. If the developers design a feature that ought to work between the different distributions of the game, it should work as intended and not be held back by these competing silos.
Via: CVG
You CAN play a game that has both platforms integrated as long as they have been implemented properly (think: Dawn of War 2, and every single game released on Steam with GFW), that’s why I call BS on Gearbox for this one…
Unfortunately, Valve has allowed the inclusion of GFWL clients in Steam games. They’re using a great, functional service to distribute a bad, broken one. It solves the problem in question, but creates another one. Microsoft obviously doesn’t want to do the same thing in return, so the customer gets burned either way. If I had the choice, I’d rather isolate myself in that comfy silo and not play with anyone on GFWL; it’d not optimal – it would be best to not have to worry either way but it depends upon what concessions are being made.
I use Steam because I generally trust Valve to do ‘the right thing for their customers’ and until they show me otherwise, I’m happy to keep it that way.