Windows Is Its Own Biggest Threat to the Future of PC Gaming

Kotaku- Windows 8 doesn't need to kill Microsoft, and it doesn't need to kill PC gaming. But it sure seems to be trying its hardest to. The newest version of the world's most commonly-used operating system is set to launch on October 26. And so far, Microsoft has provided essentially no reason for anyone to upgrade.

Instead, major PC developers have expressed very deep, very public concerns. One after the next, they worry. The head of Stardock has described the killer problems in the OS. Blizzard execs are not thrilled with where Windows is heading in the future. Notch, of Minecraft fame, has cautioned that as it stands, Windows 8 could be very bad for indie developers. And most famously, and infamously, Gabe Newell of Valve said that Windows 8 "is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space."

[papashango]

You gotta remember. Nobody bought into ME or Vista. I only upgraded to 7 for dx10 11 and better x64 supported software. There is no new industry standard on the horizon in the next 5 years at least so Windows 8 is just an afterthought for me.

I imagine the same goes for many other pc gamers. Blizzard and Valve pretty much control the future of pc gaming. If they decide they aren't supporting Win8 then I simply stick with 7 it's as simple as that.

[meetajhu]

Wddm1.2 which allows game to render at 36-bit instead 24-bit, 400% faster in drawing performance, new network architecture making it faster and secure, removed unnessary bloat ware from win7, MSE is now a heart of the OS,Gpu memory footprint reduced by 60%, kernel is updated to efficiently use memory, 200% improvement in general Os performance and lastly stereoscopic 3d is now has own Os level pipleline therefore no need of vsync for 3d which causes input lag.

I will buy it

[sikbeta]

@papash

This time is different, they're pushing Metro but not forcing it, the usual interface will be there, sure it'll be some option when installing, dumb people who only use the browser for facebook and to listen music will go for the easy way, those who do more will have the choice to stick with the old interface

@JBSleek below

Some Devs are complaining because Metro will be equal to a walled-garden in which MS will control everything, they don't want that, but Apple does this already and no one complains, MS can do the same, those who don't want Metro, will not use it...

[dcbronco]

@meetajhu

Thank for some technical information. To me this is a bunch of bitching by moistly sheep started by people who fear losing their position in the gaming world. I understand Newell to a certain extent because when PC gaming was dying Valve were the ones that revived it. But all of this bitching about an interface is stupid. Especially if the improvements meet mentions are accurate. Most people I know have s bunch of icons on their desktop. Who cares if they look different.

I understand the fear of MS starting a closed store. But I would bet that has nothing to do with all of the bitching. The Windows 8 store must be really good and they know it. If it were closed developers would just continue to use Steam and Origin.

I think the reality is the next Xbox(Windows 8) will play PC games from that store. And it will be sold for $99 dollars with a subscription to Live. It will be sold through cable companies and used as a cablebox and DVR. Windows 8 will already act as a DVR so that will eliminate your $15 DVR fee from your cable company so it's a push on cost. And that opens it up to millions of potential customers that can't build a cheap PC, won't pay for a gaming PC or can't pay for one.

This is really an attempt by Gabe and a few loyal people to kill a baby(huge baby) in it's crib. Unfortunately it's Windows. And if it runs better like Meet says, people will switch. They spend hundreds on a new GPU to get a few more frames, if this gives it to them without new parts they will change. And the business community will switch. And many will buy it as a cable box just to get away from the monthly DVR fee.

It seems everyday gaming gets more and more like politics and politics suck now.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

They have no choice because steam works on windows 8 already since it's basically a light version of win7. They don't have to rewrite the steam client for it to work. I have it installed on win 8 right now.

[JBSleek]

You can't give me one concrete argument on why Windows 8 is bad for PC gaming. As it is the same fundamentally and the start menu is different.

The only threat is for ARM devices as Microsoft has it's own store but no way is that a threat to gaming.

[OmniSlashPT]

If Valve and Blizzard don't support it, then there is no pc gaming in W8. No Steam, no WoW, no CoD. It's as simply as that.

[JBSleek]

If you honestly think that Steam and Blizzard are coming to Windows 8 then that is kinda ridiculous. They have criticism but to isolate their fans with lack of support would be a horrible business model.

Also Blizzard has no involvement in Call of Duty.

So once again name me one problem that Windows 8 poses to PC gaming? This is a bunch of nonsense that has less to do with gaming and more to do with Microsoft has their own store and Live integrated into Windows 8.

Uninformed people who have probably not even touched windows 8 but will go with what two people said about yet won't take into consideration that these companies don't like the competition Microsoft is giving.

[Letros]

Except for the whole backwards compatibility thing...W7 products run fine in W8.

[Somebody]

When Surface (a windows 8 tablet btw) was announced, MS used a classic PC game to show what it's capable of.

Then, MS predicted that PC sales will decline by 2013 and tablets will rise.

That doesn't give me much confidence with MS's "commitment" to PC gaming. Especially when W8 is heavily promoted to be optimized for mobile devices first, PC second.

When the X box 360 came out we see tons of MS games for it, nearly none for the for the PC. And a lot of PC game studios under MS were ripped apart and their staff were relocated to work on console games. Prime example would be Ensemble Studios, the creator of X Box 360 exclusive RTS Halo Wars. They were famous for their Age of Empires series and the moment they finished their first ever console RTS, MS closed them down. That incident reminded me of the king who commissioned the building of the Taj Mahal and later ordered the execution of all the engineers and architects so that no one else can copy his creation.

We've seen a lot of MS games for the 360. Will we see the same kind of love for the PC with Windows 8 or will we see MS supporting only Surface and Windows phones games?

[dcbronco]

Windows 8 hasn't been promoted much at all. It has been said that it will be less demanding on system specs, but what isn't. The knock on Windows in the pass was that it was getting bigger and bigger and you were forced to buy a new machine to run it. Now they address that issue and they get hit for that too.

I think it's crazy to criticize a company for making moves to address changes in the market. There are few permanent jobs. And at least they placed people with other companies. Age of Empires I and II were two of my favorite games of all time. But it was a dying(maybe dead) genre. And the direction of the titles was getting crazier and crazier. I love RTSs and would love to see them make a major comeback. But I'm probably in the minority on that. Hell, I still play Civ Rev almost everyday.

And the fact that there is a Windows 8 store for games built into the OS says they are pretty serious. Which is the real reason there are so many complaints about the UI. Because they don't seem to have anything they can complain about when it comes to the OS itself or the store it will contain.

[Somebody]

I don't have any complaint much about the UI. It's the impact such a move on PC gaming that worries me. Every time I hear an announcement about Windows 8, they will always slip in or emphasize that it is compatible with mobile devices. There's nothing wrong for a company to address to market changes but look at what MS had done to PC gaming when it shifted focus to console gaming. You hear them promised to give the PC more focus every darn year (when they are asked at E3 and other conventions) but they never commit. It took Steam and stubborn PC gamers half a decade to make PC gaming as it is today and now MS wants to take that way.

Just like you said, I too would like to see RTS (no, it's not dead) making a comeback but if it can only be allowed to flourished on Windows tablets or X Box Next with Smart Glass assist (to get rid of the old problems of traditional controller unable to play RTSes properly) then it validates the threat Windows pose for PC gaming. We've seen DICE all alone promoted BF3 in DX11 while MS promoted the DX9 Modern Warfare 3 at last year's E3. We're only seeing DX11 interest rise this year thanks to rumors that X Box Next might have DX11 hardware. NOT because all the other game studios were suddenly blinded by the beauty of DX11 in BF3 for the PC that they wanted a piece of the action but all because MS's next console might have that hardware. They only go DX11 because they need their programmers to learn that stuff in time for the next gen to appear. There were no incentive for them to learn DX11 before but now everyone's learning it for the sake of next gen console, not for the PC's sake. Once next gen arrive and they have their coders all prepared for it, I'm sure we'll have "PC is Dead 2.0-Now with ARM-powered Mobile devices striking from the shadows!" flame war.

In short, I don't care about the UI but I do worry how MS's actions (mostly trying to be Apple by making everything all about themselves) will affect PC gaming. Their X Box focus didn't go well with PC gaming and they've added mobile devices into the mix.

[V0LT]

It won't be long.. Times are changing..

[BitbyDeath]

Windows 7 won't be disappearing anytime soon so gaming will be fine.

[Dojan123]

I will get it for my wife's laptop if the price is really $40 to upgrade/OEM. Plus, the PC is mostly used for Web and email.

I will wait on my gaming PC and see how it holds up in major reviews after a few months. I also want to see how well it supports the majority of my games on Steam.

[kevnb]

we will see, it wouldn't take that much to fix windows 8.

[Zha1tan]

And on that day not a single viable reason why windows 8 is bad for gaming was stated.

[Faelan]

There's nothing about Windows 8 that makes it a "must buy right now" thing to me as it currently stands. The Windows 8 UI looks horrible from what I can see. Even with Metro disabled, the old desktop UI looks extremely flat and uninspiring with Aero Glass gone. Sure, there are some nice optimizations but Windows 7 64bit already runs nicely on my 4.8GHz I5-2500K with 8GB RAM and 240GB SSD (waiting for BIOS POST takes longer than booting Windows 7 and Windows 8 won't change that).

All in all, I think I'm just going to play the "wait and see" game. In my experience, it's generally a good idea to wait for SP1 to come out anyway before adopting a new OS (Windows 7 was the exception to that rule). I'm not against Windows 8 in any way, but the pros will have to outweigh the cons before I make the switch and right now I see more cons than pros. Hopefully that will change over time or with Windows 9.

[Saryk]

I have yet to see a reason to upgrade from Windows 7 to 8.

I am not going to drop $500 to upgrade unless there is a damn good reason.