Games For Windows Live Getting Overhauled
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At the Gamefest 2008 event on Tuesday, Microsoft announced that all Games for Windows Live multiplayer features are now free. These features -- including multiplayer achievements, matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, GFW voice chat, and more -- previously required a GFW Live Gold account. The change is effective immediately and across all GFW titles, both past and future.Shacknews offers an interview on the subject with GFW senior global director Kevin Unangst.
In addition to making Games for Windows Live free, Microsoft will also be creating a brand new GFW marketplace this fall to rival the marketplace found on the Xbox 360. As with the Xbox Live Marketplace, GFW's will offer demos, videos, downloadable content, and more. The GFW interface will also receive some tech-friendly changes, lowering requirements for developers looking to make their games GFW compatible.
Shack: So you guys aren't going to say anything about the digital distribution side of things for now?
Kevin Unangst: Well, I should be clear: Games for Windows Live is a digital distribution network. I think the only thing we are not detailing is when you will be able to purchase a full game end to end on our Live service. However, you can download trailers, you can download demos, you can buy add-on content for an existing game, and all of that is digitally distributed. So I think this is the first wave of the type of content distribution, commerce, and really extending those game experiences, that you're going to see from us.
Again, the whole content portfolio we will talk about at a later time. I think it is important to note that we are focusing essentially on how we can make games better by the addition of the service. And I think when you look at Achievements in that context, when you look at multiplayer in that context, clearly that's a priority for us. And then when you look at Marketplace, the same holds true that, it's about, "I am a Windows developer, and I want to either provide free or monetized content that extends my game. Now they have a consistent way to do that that we're going to allow. And they'll be able to do that through the webpage, and they'll be able to do that through the out-of-game client.
Even things like automatic updates that are typically a painful thing for PC users, where you log into a game, if you're lucky it'll tell you that there's a patch available, and then you've got to go out, and usually you end up on a mirror site on Fileplanet or something. Games for Windows Live, we host all those updates, you can get notified as soon as you log in there's an update available, and we'll just do that for you. So it's about adding those and taking the burden off the developer as well.
Shack: Do you see Steam as a director competitor to Games for Windows?
Kevin Unangst: I think what Steam and Valve are doing is great for the PC, and I think they've been successful so far. I think there are areas in which we believe we will offer more value, not only to gamers but to publishers. So in some areas we will compete. But overall that's what's great about Windows--publishers and consumers get to choose. So there's plenty of room for more than one system on the platform.
