I have been talking about the issues I'm having with UWP and the Windows Store in several topics already. But because this often leads to derailing these threads and I don't want to annoy people by repeating the same stuff over and over again, I decided/was asked to create a new topic for this subject.
What's this topic about?
I see a lot of people complaining about the Windows Store on many of the forums and gaming related websites I visit. But those complains are mostly about the many technical issues that people encounter: many people can't even download the games from the Windows Store, and the Xbox App is unreliable as well.
While of course these complaints are just, there are also several other issues with Microsofts latest PC gaming efforts that are barely spoken about. In this topic, I'll try to explain these issues once and for all. :)
Merging PC gaming with Xbox gaming
It's not a secret that Microsofts Xbox One console isn't doing as well as it's competitors from Sony and Nintendo. This is probably one of the reasons why Microsoft is trying to merge PC gaming with Xbox gaming, using UWP, Xbox Live and the Windows Store. By adding the huge PC crowd in the bargain, it will be easier to get exclusivity deals with 3rd party studios and to monetize PC gamers using Xbox Live services.
Trying to merge an open ecosystem (PC) with a closed ecosystem (console) isn't that smart tho. A console has many restrictions that a PC doesn't have. And unlike PC gaming, consoles are still dependable on the retail market and their demands. As a result, Microsofts plan to merge PC gaming with console gaming brings several significant disadvantages of console gaming to PC. Time to explain what I'm talking about.
Mods and community content
Microsoft only allows UWP for games sold in their Store. While UWP may be more secure and future proof, it also has several restrictions that win32 programs don't have. The biggest problem is that UWP games are sold as encrypted "apps", where all game files are inaccessible. These apps are also running in a sandboxed environment with limited access to the OS and other apps.
Because of this, creating mods for UWP games will be very hard or even impossible. While devs may find a way to release games with some kind of built-in mod support, no doubt many devs won't bother to do so and even if they do, there's a huge chance that they'll try to monetize it (like Bethesda's Creation Club). One of the most significant advantages of PC gaming is that you can mod your games to your own liking, which is being proved by the huge amount of mods for games without "official" mod support on sites like Nexusmods.
These restrictions will also have a huge impact on community-made content: many popular games are having excellent additional content made by the community, or even complete overhauls of the gameplay. You can use tools like SweetFX to improve the graphics as you like. You can get rid of unskippable intro movies by deleting the movie files. Broken games are being fixed with community tools (like Durante 's well known DsFix) and I've replayed several classic games with excellent community-made HD texture and interface packs. None of this is currently possible with UWP games.
Of course, not everyone uses mods or community stuff for every game, but restricting it will definitely have an impact for everyone sooner or later. For example, some of the most played games on PC like PUBG are based on mods. This is surely something we need to protect.
Pricing
Another huge issue is the pricing of the games that are sold in the Windows Store. Because of Play Anywhere, Microsoft has no choice but keeping price parity between PC and console. Because PC games are often much cheaper than digital console games in most countries outside the US, this means that PC gamers will have to pay much more for Windows Store games than for similar (or even the same) games in any other store on PC. Microsoft is charging a ridiculous €69.99 for their 1st party AAA games in the Windows Store, which is €10-€20 more than similar AAA games on Steam. Other publishers seem to charge console prices as well: Resident Evil 7 was €49.99 on Steam when it released, but costed €69.99 in the Windows Store. While Play Anywhere is a great feature for the small minority of PC gamers that also own an Xbox console, it's actually bad for every other PC gamer because they need to pay more.
Price parity also means that PC gamers get the same discounts than console gamers get. Not only are discounts on Xbox much worse and less frequent than on Steam and other stores on PC, the best discounts are also held behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall. For example, Forza Horizon 3 is more than 14 months old, but afaik it's price never got below €40 for people without a Gold subscription.
Last but not least: no more game keys. Steam allows all devs to sell game keys for free, to sell on their own website or in competing 3rd party keystores. For Steam games sold in these stores, the devs don't have to pay Valve the usual 30% cut. By doing this, Valve has created the same kind of competition for digital games than PC gamers used to have for retail games. This has lead to great things like Humble Bundles and cheap sites like CdKeys. Sadly, Microsoft doesn't allow devs to sell keys for Windows Store games at all. Only Microsoft and their official retail partners are allowed to sell keys, which again leads to higher prices than PC gamers are used to have for Steam games.
Open versus closed
Lots of people seem to underestimate what the open nature of the PC platform has done for gaming. To explain this, I would like to quote mister Durante again:
The reason the vast majority of technical gaming innovations have happened and continue to happen on PC is because people can implement them and apply them to existing software arbitrarily, without the knowledge or consent of either Microsoft, or the games' publisher, or by being a hardware driver vendor.
This is no longer true for UWP games, and for Play Anywhere games it's even worse. Devs will be limited to what Microsoft allows for Xbox games, which are known to have a whole bunch of rules and policies. While some of them are to protect the customer, most of them only benefit Microsoft.
So far, Valve has been incredible open towards anything, as long as it doesn't abuse or damage Valve or their customers. Steam allows games in every file format, supports different operating systems, supports every VR set, has universal controller support, and even allows the integration of competing ecosystems (uPlay, Arc etc). Again, Microsoft doesn't allow any of this in the Windows Store.
Also, every feature in Steam is completely optional, including the use of DRM. Meanwhile, games sold in the Windows Store seem to have five layers of DRM. Some of them are mandatory to use for all games, even more if they are using Xbox Live. Despite all of this, UWP games aren't protected against piracy or cheating. Several UWP games are hacked already, and if CheatEngine can read and change variables in UWP games, so can other hacking tools.
Not only for 1st party games
To conclude this post, I'd like to explain why I think PC gamers should ignore the Windows Store until Microsoft fixes the issues mentioned above. People should realize that Microsofts PC gaming "efforts" aren't only for their own games; Microsoft wants 3rd party devs and publishers in their Store and UWP ecosystem as well. They are already making deals with other publishers to get their games in the Windows Store, and they are forcing smaller devs to release their games in the Windows Store as well if they want to release on Xbox One.
Just like Microsoft is competing against Sony in console space by making (timed) exclusivity deals with 3rd party devs and publishers, they will no doubt do the same on PC to compete against Steam as soon as the Windows Store becomes popular enough.
I don't think that should happen, because every game exclusive to the Windows Store means a loss for PC gamers: higher prices, worse discounts, less features, no modding, no community content, no Mac or Linux version etc etc etc. That's why - in my opinion - PC gamers should think twice before they support the Windows Store. There are plenty of other games on PC, sold in stores that respect the perks and open nature of PC gaming.
What's this topic about?
I see a lot of people complaining about the Windows Store on many of the forums and gaming related websites I visit. But those complains are mostly about the many technical issues that people encounter: many people can't even download the games from the Windows Store, and the Xbox App is unreliable as well.
While of course these complaints are just, there are also several other issues with Microsofts latest PC gaming efforts that are barely spoken about. In this topic, I'll try to explain these issues once and for all. :)
Merging PC gaming with Xbox gaming
It's not a secret that Microsofts Xbox One console isn't doing as well as it's competitors from Sony and Nintendo. This is probably one of the reasons why Microsoft is trying to merge PC gaming with Xbox gaming, using UWP, Xbox Live and the Windows Store. By adding the huge PC crowd in the bargain, it will be easier to get exclusivity deals with 3rd party studios and to monetize PC gamers using Xbox Live services.
Trying to merge an open ecosystem (PC) with a closed ecosystem (console) isn't that smart tho. A console has many restrictions that a PC doesn't have. And unlike PC gaming, consoles are still dependable on the retail market and their demands. As a result, Microsofts plan to merge PC gaming with console gaming brings several significant disadvantages of console gaming to PC. Time to explain what I'm talking about.
Mods and community content
Microsoft only allows UWP for games sold in their Store. While UWP may be more secure and future proof, it also has several restrictions that win32 programs don't have. The biggest problem is that UWP games are sold as encrypted "apps", where all game files are inaccessible. These apps are also running in a sandboxed environment with limited access to the OS and other apps.
Because of this, creating mods for UWP games will be very hard or even impossible. While devs may find a way to release games with some kind of built-in mod support, no doubt many devs won't bother to do so and even if they do, there's a huge chance that they'll try to monetize it (like Bethesda's Creation Club). One of the most significant advantages of PC gaming is that you can mod your games to your own liking, which is being proved by the huge amount of mods for games without "official" mod support on sites like Nexusmods.
These restrictions will also have a huge impact on community-made content: many popular games are having excellent additional content made by the community, or even complete overhauls of the gameplay. You can use tools like SweetFX to improve the graphics as you like. You can get rid of unskippable intro movies by deleting the movie files. Broken games are being fixed with community tools (like Durante 's well known DsFix) and I've replayed several classic games with excellent community-made HD texture and interface packs. None of this is currently possible with UWP games.
Of course, not everyone uses mods or community stuff for every game, but restricting it will definitely have an impact for everyone sooner or later. For example, some of the most played games on PC like PUBG are based on mods. This is surely something we need to protect.
Pricing
Another huge issue is the pricing of the games that are sold in the Windows Store. Because of Play Anywhere, Microsoft has no choice but keeping price parity between PC and console. Because PC games are often much cheaper than digital console games in most countries outside the US, this means that PC gamers will have to pay much more for Windows Store games than for similar (or even the same) games in any other store on PC. Microsoft is charging a ridiculous €69.99 for their 1st party AAA games in the Windows Store, which is €10-€20 more than similar AAA games on Steam. Other publishers seem to charge console prices as well: Resident Evil 7 was €49.99 on Steam when it released, but costed €69.99 in the Windows Store. While Play Anywhere is a great feature for the small minority of PC gamers that also own an Xbox console, it's actually bad for every other PC gamer because they need to pay more.
Price parity also means that PC gamers get the same discounts than console gamers get. Not only are discounts on Xbox much worse and less frequent than on Steam and other stores on PC, the best discounts are also held behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall. For example, Forza Horizon 3 is more than 14 months old, but afaik it's price never got below €40 for people without a Gold subscription.
Last but not least: no more game keys. Steam allows all devs to sell game keys for free, to sell on their own website or in competing 3rd party keystores. For Steam games sold in these stores, the devs don't have to pay Valve the usual 30% cut. By doing this, Valve has created the same kind of competition for digital games than PC gamers used to have for retail games. This has lead to great things like Humble Bundles and cheap sites like CdKeys. Sadly, Microsoft doesn't allow devs to sell keys for Windows Store games at all. Only Microsoft and their official retail partners are allowed to sell keys, which again leads to higher prices than PC gamers are used to have for Steam games.
Open versus closed
Lots of people seem to underestimate what the open nature of the PC platform has done for gaming. To explain this, I would like to quote mister Durante again:
The reason the vast majority of technical gaming innovations have happened and continue to happen on PC is because people can implement them and apply them to existing software arbitrarily, without the knowledge or consent of either Microsoft, or the games' publisher, or by being a hardware driver vendor.
This is no longer true for UWP games, and for Play Anywhere games it's even worse. Devs will be limited to what Microsoft allows for Xbox games, which are known to have a whole bunch of rules and policies. While some of them are to protect the customer, most of them only benefit Microsoft.
So far, Valve has been incredible open towards anything, as long as it doesn't abuse or damage Valve or their customers. Steam allows games in every file format, supports different operating systems, supports every VR set, has universal controller support, and even allows the integration of competing ecosystems (uPlay, Arc etc). Again, Microsoft doesn't allow any of this in the Windows Store.
Also, every feature in Steam is completely optional, including the use of DRM. Meanwhile, games sold in the Windows Store seem to have five layers of DRM. Some of them are mandatory to use for all games, even more if they are using Xbox Live. Despite all of this, UWP games aren't protected against piracy or cheating. Several UWP games are hacked already, and if CheatEngine can read and change variables in UWP games, so can other hacking tools.
Not only for 1st party games
To conclude this post, I'd like to explain why I think PC gamers should ignore the Windows Store until Microsoft fixes the issues mentioned above. People should realize that Microsofts PC gaming "efforts" aren't only for their own games; Microsoft wants 3rd party devs and publishers in their Store and UWP ecosystem as well. They are already making deals with other publishers to get their games in the Windows Store, and they are forcing smaller devs to release their games in the Windows Store as well if they want to release on Xbox One.
Just like Microsoft is competing against Sony in console space by making (timed) exclusivity deals with 3rd party devs and publishers, they will no doubt do the same on PC to compete against Steam as soon as the Windows Store becomes popular enough.
I don't think that should happen, because every game exclusive to the Windows Store means a loss for PC gamers: higher prices, worse discounts, less features, no modding, no community content, no Mac or Linux version etc etc etc. That's why - in my opinion - PC gamers should think twice before they support the Windows Store. There are plenty of other games on PC, sold in stores that respect the perks and open nature of PC gaming.
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