Microsoft’s release of Fable III for PC may signal a stronger push toward computer games in the company’s future, according to an internal Q&A discovered by Kotaku.
With Microsoft’s display of indecent obsession with Kinect and a more casual market at E3 this year, hitting the PC audience may be the company’s deus ex machina before it is requiescat in pace. The Q&A, prepared for Microsoft spokespeople, reads like a used car salesman trying to sell you a 1970 Ford Pinto (thus the above pic…), but it does affirm that Microsoft acknowledges its lack of presence in the PC world.
Q: Does “Fable III” on Windows signal a larger reinvestment by Microsoft in PC gaming? How is this different from the previous times you’ve announced a reinvestment in PC gaming and not quite come through with a robust offering?
A: In terms of revenue, Windows is far and away the largest gaming platform in the world, so it’s an incredibly important part of Microsoft’s business. From core games like “Fable III” to casual, social and Facebook titles, more gaming happens on Windows than anywhere else. Windows 7 is a world-class gaming platform, and you can bet Microsoft has a vested interest in using it as a platform for amazing first party content. “Fable III” on Windows as well as Xbox 360 this holiday is a great first step, and we’ll have more news for you later this summer.
Considering Facebook games are comparable to Fable III may reveal more about Microsoft’s current mindset than anything they’ve so far demonstrated, but we can still hope for “more news” on the company’s PC plans over the summer months. What are YOUR hopes? Let us know below.
So they’re going to push Xbox (with Kinect) for casual and Windows for the hardcore? That sounds a little crazy, to say the least. Both platforms can do well in both categories. I was surprised with the ‘in terms of revenue’ statement, but then I realized WoW and Facebook are counted.
At least their attempt to do more on the PC side of things is good news, in a way. We’re talking a company that makes millions out of a PC OS, which would take a huge dip if the system would give it’s final breath as a gaming system.
It’s dying… that’s what they said 20 years ago
you said it all
This is a whole load of BS! You know taht the best GFWL announcement was? that Fallout New Vegas wont use it and will use Steamworks, Microsoft failed at PC with GFWL and they will fail at a re-brand of it. This is PR bullshit at its finest. Steam or nothing.
The headline reads Murkosoft ! HA!
I’m sure most PC gamers would rather them just quit the platform if it meant no more GFWL.
I don’t think Microsoft will let the pc gaming platform die out, because they want to sell windows to gamers and they make more money on two gaming platforms than one.
This is bullshit, it’s obvious they don’t care about PC gaming ever since the 360 launched. GWFL is a joke and an insult to the platform in every way imaginable, their pushes to release less and less PC ports of their main franchises is also showing. If they want to push it, they should release games, good ports and without delay, without forcing GFWL on us.
Good to hear. I don’t mind GFWL, it’s just uesless in it’s current state. But, to be honest, MS said the same thing several times and nothing happens. So, unless they give us something this is rather meaningless PR bs.
It’s hard to blame any developer, publisher or hardware manufacturer for wanting to distance themselves from a platform that is so ravaged by piracy. If you want devs and publishers to show PC more love, then STOP pirating. I know not everyone does it, but it’s seriously the majority of PC gamers that download the odd game. The odd game turns into millions of dollar in lost revenue. Shame really, as PC is where many older gamers like myself got our addiction started with amazing old PC games like total annihilation, dark earth, net storm, and so many others.
It’s not just about the piracy. Piracy is at large on the 360 and Wii as well. The only reason it’s not as frequent is because you actually have to install a mod chip which you actually have to buy.
The Sims sold a crapton just on pcs and I think around 5 millionm people own Counter strike, probably more. Pirates are on all systems, thew thing is that most people enjoy the comfort of a set hardware like the 360 or ps3 or Wii, so the market is bigger on there.
Agreed but don’t think that it can be denied how easy it is to pirate a game on PC compared to any other platform. There are sone full version games that can be downloaded, installed, cracked and be up and running in the space of twenty minutes, depending on your net speed and PC capabilities. That is far too tempting for many people. On 360 you have to physically mod your console and then keep it permanently disconnected from the net. That’s a pain in the ass, whereas PC pirating couldn’t possibly be simpler. Hells its probably quicker for me to download Portal 2 than to go down to my local retailer and purchase it. But will I do that? Hell NO because Valve deserves my money. They work hard and they innovate. But if I wanted to it would be as simple as four button clicks.
Until Microsoft release games like GoW2, Halo 3, or even skipping them games and releasing Halo Reach and GoW3 on PC then I do not think Fable III will light the PC gaming world on fire. I am a PC gamer first and foremost. Raised playing Quake 1, 2, 3 Doom 1, 2, and of course Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike (which I still play to this day, Source that is). They need to release some big hitters. Batman:AA was a great game and was improved a lot on PC, so was Resident Evil 5. Companies like Capcom have even gone on record saying they much prefer coding for PC as its easier and they are less limited to what they can achieve due to consoles inferior hardware. Just look at the low textures, and immense slowdown you get on both PS3 and 360 with Resi 5 then play it on a decent mid range PC and its like night and day. The issue of piracy is a bad thing and it is stupidly easy to pirate a PC game, but believe me when I say that most PC gamers are aged 18 – 35 and some are even older. And most of the these people will dish out their cash for a game they want to play rather than pirating it. If a game is a sloppy console port then it will be pirated and sales will be low. Just look at MW2 and no dedicated servers, a lot of people pirated it to just play the SP game, but then a lot of people more so even than pirated it just boycotted it all together. Now they are including Dedicated servers in Black Ops. Piracy is just as rife on consoles let alone on PC and even more so. I see tons of 360 games on torrent sites well before they are released in the U.K. and well before the release of a pirated PC version as well. There is proof that PC gamers want to pay for their games even more so than console owners. There are more than 15 million people who pay £8.99 a month to play a game called WOW. And I know there are ways to play that game on private servers for free but a lot more people still choose to pay for the game every month.
At least you try to do more for the PC side of things is good news, sort of. We talk about the company millions of PC operating system, which takes a huge dive, if the system would give a definitive game system breath.
I can’t say I believe it or have faith in it happening, but just that they are saying this at all is encouraging. PC gaming has been losing so much focus lately it’s become kind of depressing to be a PC gamer.
GFW is a half-assed joke, so I hope this isn’t some rebranding/new gaming network nonsense. If they just release solid games on PC and give it the attention it deserves via releases, that will be more than enough.
Games for windows to me is just another anti-piracy attempt right? It’s sad but no matter what anyone does, all software of all kinds will always end up on the net for free near or prior to it’s release date. I admit to downloading games that I would be hard pressed to find at retail. I recently downloaded Deus Ex the invisible war. Now I may have been able to find an xbox copy of this at my local retailer, but it’s price would have been around four bucks and downloading it took about the time it would have took to get in my car and start the engine. Does this make it a justifiable download? Probably not. But Christ, when it’s this easy it’s a struggle just to not to download every new release.
Deus Ex + Deus Ex: IW just were on sale for steam for 5 Bucks.
what? this is only the 10th time in the last 5 years that they said they would support pc more? If they did they would invest in making GFWL into something proper. They pretty much only update it when a new game comes out and they need to patch in support for it. They want too keep it to close too how Xbox live. I mean.. no chat? just PM’s? This is a system you can type at high speeds…Cross-platform gaming was a great experience aswell. Where is the support you promised for that? Nobody is going to buy a game if they know the multiplayer has no people online (for example Gears of war for the pc)
I dare say pc gaming will never die but it’s only for the people that are willing to hang on to it (which are the most hardcore of people). I hope they realise the pc is more than piracy because it’s the platform with the highest performance.
And guess what? piracy doesn’t stop at the pc. Am I right nintendo? the only thing that is keeping xbox and playstation sales high are the multiplayer networks. If they expand those to the pc you have you problem solved. And don’t think only WoW and facebook make money on the pc. Valve has said a couple of times that Steam is a great money maker. And I love steam for their great sales and deals.
All in all. If game developers stopped caring about piracy and just made the game perfect for working on the pc *cough* dedicated servers *cough* and used a proper network over that (like on the consoles) it would go alot smoother.
Making my illegal download completely unjustifiable lol. However, i am of the opinion that once a game reaches a certain age you really shouldn’t have to pay for it. Valve and Id Software both partially agree with that concept. When it comes to the original Deus Ex, i think that game is truly too old to be paying for. I mean i used to play that game when i was 13 and i’m now 23. I think that flooding people with heaps of old content, old games and such, maybe it would dissuade them from downloading newer content. Unlikely but hell something has to be done and all anyone is doing is putting retarded DRM on games like Ubisoft’s always-logged-in crap.
I think Microsoft is just getting scared after hearing rumours Google is working on a PC OS. They know everyone hates Microsoft, but I guess this is some lame attempt to try and gain product loyalty.
If the google OS, work as google chrome im not usin it…
a good example of a game we (i mean pc.gamers) have to buy is starcraft (just awesome) this MS “support” is bs (sorry for my english)
Milking Console Gamers with HALO comes to an end,back to the PC community where it all started.
GFWL,it’s like it’s made from the code that VALVE deleted when making STEAM.
This will make your pc to very fast and also get lots of advantages by the use of it.so be with it.