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Phil Spencer On PC Gaming: “At E3 this year and throughout 2019, you’ll begin to see investments in Store, in Windows and in great games”.
- Thread starter Rychu
- Start date
Where? They are actually trying to do better, but they have delivered zilch so far.
Every single MS game releases on Windows, and for the most part they've been excellent PC versions. How is that "zilch"?
Some recent findings seem to indicate that Microsoft is at least making changes to the delivery methods for games on PC, so it's very likely that we'll see improvements sometime this year as Phil claims. For all of the improvements that Microsoft claims having everything essentially running Windows 10 makes, it still baffles me that the quality of the experience can vary so much from platform to platform, though.
This is much more accurate. My expectations are so tempered after the stupidity Microsoft has put us through.
People who say Spencer is only words because he hasn't delivered on his promises regarding PC gaming are only half correct in my opinion. Let's look at the facts:
- Microsoft Store is still a broken piece of shit
- UWP is still something most diehard PC users will enjoy or even appreciate
But...
- Microsoft has announced 5 PC ONLY games the last 2 years. (Age of Empires 4, Age of Empires 2: DE, Age of Empires 3: DE, Gears Tactics and Minecraft:Dungeons)
- It has bought two studios renowned for their pc games (Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment)
- Their PC ports have become better (Crackdown 3 was a big letdown tho.., but FH4 and Sea of Thieves were miles above Quantum Break, Gears of War 4 or Forza Horizon 3 for example)
- Their recent insider builds include new delivery methods for PC gaming: https://www.thurrott.com/xbox/200140/microsofts-evolving-gaming-strategy-takes-a-giant-step-forward
- Steam will have an Xbox Cross Play API according to this: https://www.windowscentral.com/steam-xbox-one-cross-play-tools-hinted-beta-source-code
- Game Pass will come to PC, according to Satya Nadella: https://www.cnet.com/news/xboxs-game-pass-subscription-service-is-coming-to-pc/
- 343i will threat Windows 10 users as first class citizens: https://www.neowin.net/news/halo-infinite-will-treat-pc-as-a-full-first-class-citizen/
So in my opinion saying it's only been talk and no action? Bollocks.
- Microsoft Store is still a broken piece of shit
- UWP is still something most diehard PC users will enjoy or even appreciate
But...
- Microsoft has announced 5 PC ONLY games the last 2 years. (Age of Empires 4, Age of Empires 2: DE, Age of Empires 3: DE, Gears Tactics and Minecraft:Dungeons)
- It has bought two studios renowned for their pc games (Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment)
- Their PC ports have become better (Crackdown 3 was a big letdown tho.., but FH4 and Sea of Thieves were miles above Quantum Break, Gears of War 4 or Forza Horizon 3 for example)
- Their recent insider builds include new delivery methods for PC gaming: https://www.thurrott.com/xbox/200140/microsofts-evolving-gaming-strategy-takes-a-giant-step-forward
- Steam will have an Xbox Cross Play API according to this: https://www.windowscentral.com/steam-xbox-one-cross-play-tools-hinted-beta-source-code
- Game Pass will come to PC, according to Satya Nadella: https://www.cnet.com/news/xboxs-game-pass-subscription-service-is-coming-to-pc/
- 343i will threat Windows 10 users as first class citizens: https://www.neowin.net/news/halo-infinite-will-treat-pc-as-a-full-first-class-citizen/
So in my opinion saying it's only been talk and no action? Bollocks.
Lets hope so, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do at E3. They need to start showing the goods now, after the last few lacklustre exclusives and lots of promises and waiting.
Hopefully they will make some great improvements on the PC side of things too and finally fix that awful Windows Store.
Hopefully they will make some great improvements on the PC side of things too and finally fix that awful Windows Store.
I mean I know you are also arguing in bad faith in every Steam thread, but to humour your argument, they may be releasing day and date on the Windows store but that is not worth anything when many users can't actually download the games from their store. When they actually have a pipeline for PC users to get their games without having to actually engage with a broken ass delivery store, then we can talk.
And so you don't cry out that I'm just talking shit, I own Gears4 on the Windows store, to this day I have been unable to actually play the game, mostly because their store is so. fucking. bad.
They've put games on PC since 2015. But it has always been a case of 'Windows first, games second'' at the Windows division and ''Xbox first, Windows second'' at the Xbox division. With Spencer being promoted to 'Head of gaming' which means he doesn't have to report to the Windows division anymore could change things.
2018 and 2019 have been positive in that regard, in my opinion. With their recent Insider build, the holiday season where 35% of the Sea of Thieves players were playing on PC, the announcement of Gears Tactics and Minecraft: Dungeons, etc.
But in the end Microsoft is this giant corporation that is really difficult to steer in a different direction.
Yes, but it's unplayable for many people. (There were no problems for me besides the atrocious file size and download time..)
But.. they are doing things and they have improved a lot of things in the last years? Just not at the pace we would like them to.
Yes, but with the exception of the existing ports, all your pro's are just promises. That is the very definition of talk.
Meanwhile in the here and now why should i buy FH4, GoW4 or gamepass when it is hit and miss wether it will install first time, or at all?
They give you a date basically when it's being unveiled.....yup it's a typical Microsoft thread here.
That the Windows Store has severe technical problems (which are being actively worked on currently, with the entire deployment system seemingly being ripped out and replaced with the Xbox version in upcoming versions of Windows) is a whole other issue. Since about 2001, Microsoft largely turned their backs on PC gaming in favor of pushing their console. Halo 1 got a late port. Halo 2 got an even more overtly late port. Every Gears of War game after the first game, which got a late port, failed to come to PC. Banjo and Perfect Dark got remasters for 360. Of course they didn't come to PC. MS's talk of supporting PC was just that -- empty talk.
Since 2016, that situation has completely reversed. Everything releases on PC now. (Rare Replay tragically missed the window by a few months.) Gears 4 was the first Gears game to release on PC in the nine years since Gears 1 got a port. That is putting your money where your mouth is. MS have even gone so far as to allow Sunset Overdrive to be ported to PC. There's a strong chance we'll see the Master Chief Collection on PC, too. Plus of course we know that Halo Infinite is coming to PC. Again, the first proper Halo to come to PC since the dodgy Halo 2 port back in 2007, which was 12 years ago.
If announcing games, shipping insider builds and working together with Valve on including cross play API's in Steam is only talk.. then I don't know anymore.
Good. The Windows Store experience might not be perfect but I've enjoyed hundreds of hours of playing PC games via the store since MS started releasing all of their software there. It's worked well enough for me. I'm happy if it can keep getting better.
Hopefully anything mentioned at E3 that includes PC also applies to Xbox, I don't want to sit through a 20 minute section that applies solely to PC.
I'm confident it will though, due to their future multi-device approach.
The stuff already mentioned here and by Brad Sams is huge, in my opinion. Basically, PC players downloading future Xbox games are actually downloading Xbox games natively onto their PC (SofD2 being the example they are doing it with now).
So developers literally have to only make one game. Very little optimisation and far less than the competition. MS are trying to make it so it much easier to develop games for Xbox than for the competition, so that, on day one, the market for potential sales is so much larger than any other console developer.
That single development will be more significant than any new Scarlett console.
https://newzoo.com/insights/article...137-9-billion-in-2018-mobile-games-take-half/
PC players are understandably cautious, but you only have to look at MS track record since Spencer took over, then got increased power and budget under Nadella, to know they really mean business this time.
Drop kinect
Lower price
Changes with Games with Gold
Vastly improved indie support through ID@Xbox - including dropping the Xbox 1st release clause
Improvements to OS
EA Play
Cross Play push
Elite Controller
Backwards compatibility - 360 AND OG
Gamepass
Xbox one S
Xbox One X
keyboard/mouse
Adaptive Controller
Winter of Arcade
XO18
7 new studios in 12 months
Xcloud - meaning support for xbox games on any device, likely including Switch
The biggest gripes of Xbox gamers were, in kind of chronological order:
Mandatory kinect
Too expensive
Poor OS
Underpowered
Poor first party
All of these either have been or are being addressed by concrete action. The earlier steps Phil took were those taken when he had a lower budget. You can see that, since Nadella promoted him and MS boosted the budget, that the steps above started becoming much more sizeable.
...and now MS are promising a big push on improving PC gaming.
Of course be cautious, but there is a huge evidence base to suggest that MS are doing big things.
I'm confident it will though, due to their future multi-device approach.
The stuff already mentioned here and by Brad Sams is huge, in my opinion. Basically, PC players downloading future Xbox games are actually downloading Xbox games natively onto their PC (SofD2 being the example they are doing it with now).
So developers literally have to only make one game. Very little optimisation and far less than the competition. MS are trying to make it so it much easier to develop games for Xbox than for the competition, so that, on day one, the market for potential sales is so much larger than any other console developer.
That single development will be more significant than any new Scarlett console.
https://newzoo.com/insights/article...137-9-billion-in-2018-mobile-games-take-half/
PC players are understandably cautious, but you only have to look at MS track record since Spencer took over, then got increased power and budget under Nadella, to know they really mean business this time.
Drop kinect
Lower price
Changes with Games with Gold
Vastly improved indie support through ID@Xbox - including dropping the Xbox 1st release clause
Improvements to OS
EA Play
Cross Play push
Elite Controller
Backwards compatibility - 360 AND OG
Gamepass
Xbox one S
Xbox One X
keyboard/mouse
Adaptive Controller
Winter of Arcade
XO18
7 new studios in 12 months
Xcloud - meaning support for xbox games on any device, likely including Switch
The biggest gripes of Xbox gamers were, in kind of chronological order:
Mandatory kinect
Too expensive
Poor OS
Underpowered
Poor first party
All of these either have been or are being addressed by concrete action. The earlier steps Phil took were those taken when he had a lower budget. You can see that, since Nadella promoted him and MS boosted the budget, that the steps above started becoming much more sizeable.
...and now MS are promising a big push on improving PC gaming.
Of course be cautious, but there is a huge evidence base to suggest that MS are doing big things.
They just shipped an insider build changing the content delivery method. Him saying to expect things at E3.. how is it as relevant as saying nothing?
If you believe that Microsoft is going to do something good for PC gaming you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Nothing they have done in the last decade and a half has proven they actually care or are willing to do anything but offer vague promises of improvements.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I'm hoping that results in games coming to both Win Store and Steam at the same time.
So true. Phil Spencer is doing a great work. This is is the type of thing that takes time, but the results are coming steadily.
Bringing new first party games to PC was a great start. Overhauling the Windows Store is probably a software nightmare (I have no idea).
I would like them to entirely drop the Windows Store for not-mobile games and use the Xbox app.
I do think with the API being found, the possibility at least kinda exists now.
Rise of Nations and Killer Instinct already offer Cross Play between Steam and the Microsoft Store, no?
They have had time....lots of time to make these changes since they launched PC versions of their games.
Yes, but we are talking about a native API inside of steam itself, not just the games.
We have this plus their whole possible Xbox on PC stuff from yesterday and a lot of potential possibility opened up.
They say this almost every year, and absolutely nothing happens. Ocassionally there's some activity for a couple of months and then the PC store goes back to being a forgotten backwater that gets no marketing, support or attention.
It'd be nice to believe that they're serious this time, but after being burned by their PC efforts so many times before its hard to take them seriously now.
It'd be nice to believe that they're serious this time, but after being burned by their PC efforts so many times before its hard to take them seriously now.
I've had some disgusting experiences with the Windows Store. But last week I signed up for the 2 months of GP for $2 deal so I could try out FH4. It seems like they have drastically improved their download speeds since I tried out SoT. It's not much, but at least it's something.
For those saying they doubt it, while I'd normally agree,
1. We have the CEO of MS saying Gamepass is coming to PC, so they need games soon.
2. Phil has taken a leadership role on the store team
3. A Xbox Live API was found on steam a few months back (beta branch)
4. Yesterday we got some good evidence to support Xbox games (not just play anywhere) could be coming to PC
1. We have the CEO of MS saying Gamepass is coming to PC, so they need games soon.
2. Phil has taken a leadership role on the store team
3. A Xbox Live API was found on steam a few months back (beta branch)
4. Yesterday we got some good evidence to support Xbox games (not just play anywhere) could be coming to PC
Here you see it: https://www.thurrott.com/xbox/200140/microsofts-evolving-gaming-strategy-takes-a-giant-step-forward
An actual Windows Insider build, shipping later this year to consumers.
It seems like there is so much going on that I wonder what shape it's all going to take. Is it basically just going to be more Xbox games on Win Store, with some also going to Steam and their being Crossplay? Will Win Store adopt a usable Xbox interface for PC (perhaps with a living room / big picture mode)? Will Steam be able to interface in some way with the Win Store / Xbox?
People should let the past go.....Myerson gone...ballmer gone ....mattrick gone....this is basically another company with another vision ...who don't see it ..is basically sleeping or trolling