Microsoft's Head Of Pc Gaming Calls It Quits.

[Camul]

Xbox runs directX....

You beat me to it.

[beebskadoo]

i give microsoft 10 years  until its downfall

They are making all of the wrong decisions really.

Windows 8 is an absolute FLOP!

I see it every day (I work at best buy)

We are selling a lot of windows 8 laptops but everyone wants 7 or a 7 like experience back. More and more customers are switching to Mac or buying iOS/Android tablets. They should have left the tablet UI out of the desktop/laptop realm. and they should have merged their mobile OS with their tablet line from day 1.

If the engineers and the software developers would spend a day in retail and see the frustration of consumers over the stupid interface changes and poor UI decisions they would surely feel their jobs are in jeopardy. 

[beebskadoo]

You beat me to it.

too slow

[beebskadoo]

Isn't it funny that the best thing that Microsoft has done for PC gaming in the last 3 years was kill off Games For Windows Live?

I mean how can a huge company like Microsoft let such a system perform like shit?

They have the clout to sway developers to their side but yet their own system lacked many essential titles...What were they thinking?

[Camul]

Isn't it funny that the best thing that Microsoft has done for PC gaming in the last 3 years was kill off Games For Windows Live?

I mean how can a huge company like Microsoft let such a system perform like shit?

They have the clout to sway developers to their side but yet their own system lacked many essential titles...What were they thinking?

They just had a 'that'll do' attitude with it. I guess they saw Steam and decided to create their own version that used Live accounts to track friends, achievements, etc. They just got it wrong the first time, the same as Origin and Uplay. Though, unlike Origin and Uplay, Microsoft never bothered to improve it. 

[Cryptonite]

Steam machines will be a flop, mark my words. And NVIDIA Grid is still far from becoming reality, especially because of absymal internet speeds and ping in many countries. Not to menion that I think many people wouldn't be keen on paying a monthly fee to use a computer. 

Steam machines are computers with Debian on them, concentrated on gaming, if coding at least starts then the open source community can take over even if it were to be a "flop" but I doubt it can fail with all the reasons microsoft is giving devs to move on. The steam boxes themselves that will get sold as steam boxes might be a flop, but then again you underestimate the stupidity of mankind, people will buy them simply for the hype, because they don't want to learn to build their own, or they just think it's another console.

 

your argument for internet speeds account for any cloud hosting service so really no one would stand a chance if that were the case. But think of it from a marketing perspective, if there becomes a major demand in a certain area and technology is advanced far enough to handle said demand, don't you think it will force faster improvement? Anyway, the technology is there, Countries just need to be given a reason to invest in said technology.

[beebskadoo]

Steam machines are computers with Debian on them, concentrated on gaming, if coding at least starts then the open source community can take over even if it were to be a "flop" but I doubt it can fail with all the reasons microsoft is giving devs to move on. The steam boxes themselves that will get sold as steam boxes might be a flop, but then again you underestimate the stupidity of mankind, people will buy them simply for the hype, because they don't want to learn to build their own, or they just think it's another console.

 

your argument for internet speeds account for any cloud hosting service so really no one would stand a chance if that were the case. But think of it from a marketing perspective, if there becomes a major demand in a certain area and technology is advanced far enough to handle said demand, don't you think it will force faster improvement? Anyway, the technology is there, Countries just need to be given a reason to invest in said technology.

The flop will come in the form of adoption. People just want a box they can buy and plug in that will play there games with no hassle. SteamOS requires even more maintenance than windows, it won'w sell well in it's current state to anyone but enthusiasts.

[Cryptonite]

The flop will come in the form of adoption. People just want a box they can buy and plug in that will play there games with no hassle. SteamOS requires even more maintenance than windows, it won'w sell well in it's current state to anyone but enthusiasts.

isn't that why it's called a Beta? Steamboxes won't be any good until 2015 - 2020 most probably, but they can make it simply because I think steam can handle it (financially). There are not enough games supporting debian yet anyway, but this is going to push it in the right direction. One of these days I don't see a reason why steamOS can't be automated with driver updates and gaming support. They can even integrate something similar to geforce experience which will automatically optimize games for your personal steambox. People just expect things too fast which is why microsoft, the BF series, CoD and a bunch of other crap get released as finished products before they are ready.

 

Also, steam I believe released the Beta steamboxes for the sole purpose of getting enthusiasts and the linux community to play around with them and maybe find better ways to do certain things, fix certain code and do free improvements on the OS side of things.

[beebskadoo]

isn't that why it's called a Beta? Steamboxes won't be any good until 2015 - 2020 most probably, but they can make it simply because I think steam can handle it. There are not enough games supporting debian yet anyway, but this is going to push it in the right direction. One of these days I don't see a reason why steamOS can't be automated with driver updates and gaming support. They can even integrate something similar to geforce experience which will automatically optimize games for your personal steambox. People just expect things too fast which is why microsoft, the BF series, CoD and a bunch of other crap get released as finished products before they are ready.

That's why I said 'current state'

It is a great direction certainly, but Valve neds to close down the platform and have a minimum spec that is decent enough to provide a good experience with games for at least 3 years or so. Open platforms are wonderful, but they need to close it down a bit to cater to the masses. I know that isn't their motive with SteamOS but it makes more sense that way.

 

I am not holding Valve above every other company in terms or releasing a finished product ASAP, but they do need to make sacrifices to the platform to get the ball rolling on popularity.

It's an excellent concept but it's going to take something special to push adoption.

[Cryptonite]

minimum spec that is decent enough to provide a good experience with games for at least 3 years or so.

Didn't valve give such a minimum requirement to those who want to officially sell steamboxes? You'll be able to at least have the power of a console with most hardware that are game worthy anyway. But yeah, like I said I think it won't be ready until 2015-2020 and once it's officially ready I'll worry about them giving minimums and stuff since a lot can happen till then.

[beebskadoo]

Didn't valve give such a minimum requirement to those who want to officially sell steamboxes? You'll be able to at least have the power of a console with most hardware that are game worthy anyway. But yeah, like I said I think it won't be ready until 2015-2020 and once it's officially ready I'll worry about them giving minimums and stuff since a lot can happen till then.

I think the minimum they gave was too low to even game at.

we shall see

[GoodBytes]

Dude, I am sorry but he left i January, before Microsoft new CEO.

Jason Holtman stated that he was looking for something different and fun than his previous jobs. I guess Microsoft wasn't it.

He left by himself.

When you becomes high up like him, you can afford wondering around jobless to seek a unique opportunity.

I don't get your Microsoft hate lately, but please get all your info first.

[beebskadoo]

Dude, I am sorry but he left i January, before Microsoft new CEO.

Jason Holtman stated that he was looking for something different and fun than his previous jobs. I guess Microsoft wasn't it.

He left by himself.

When you becomes high up like him, you can afford wondering around jobless to seek a unique opportunity.

I don't get your Microsoft hate lately, but please get all your info first.

k I just saw the article on pcper. In fact, linus apparently just found out about it.

So forgive me for not knowing sooner because apparently you're the only one who did.

I don't hate Microsoft, they are just making lousy decisions and pissing people off.

[EChondo]

I really thought that guy from Steam was going to change a lot of things with MIcrosoft. When he joined, it seemed like right after GFWL got the boot and we all thought he was going to merge Microsoft games with Steam.

 

Well it looks like that failed. Guess Microsoft is killing off its PC division.

[beebskadoo]

I really thought that guy from Steam was going to change a lot of things with MIcrosoft. When he joined, it seemed like right after GFWL got the boot and we all thought he was going to merge Microsoft games with Steam.

Well it looks like that failed. Guess Microsoft is killing off its PC division.

like I said earlier, Microsoft getting rid of gfwl was the best thing they have done for PC gaming.

But other stupid decisions like no native DVD playback just baffles me. Can anyone explain that decision to me?

[brownninja97]

bing was so dumb, there was no chance of placing up with google.

[Humbug]

Not much to talk about until we know why Jason left.

But it's obviously a disappointment to anyone hoping Microsoft was going to get behind PC gaming.

 

The company that refuses to release their own games (Halo) on their own operating system (Windows) .

[deathjester]

Roughly 6 months ago Ex Valve employee Jason Holtman was recruited by Microsoft to spearhead their PC Gaming and Entertainment division. Now some interesting news has emerged, he has left his position at Microsoft. No word what has caused his departure, but it was apparently his decision.

This may have something to do with Satya Nadella taking the wheel as the new CEO, some restructuring has been rumored to take place while the company apparently contemplates killing off Bing search and Xbox. Though we ca only speculate. what is for certain is that a lot of interesting news has sprung out about Microsoft recently, this just adds to the growing list of intriguing happenings.

Does this mean that Microsoft may be cutting back on game support?

Is Direct3D being tossed out along with Xbox and Bing?

Is Microsoft's focus going to be more on cloud and mobile computing?

 

No one knows as of yet, though Satya is being pressured by investors to trim the fat, so what goes and what stays?

 

Interesting times in Redmond...

EDIT

What do you guys think Microsoft's best strategy going forward would be? (in terms of PC gaming)

Source

 

Shut down Xbox cus it loses 2-3 billion a year.

 

Take the money you were losing on the dumb Xbox and spend it on kick butt PC DirectX exclusives, like Windows 8/9 only Halo. Make DAMN sure that people LIKE the new 8/9 of Windows. Perhaps make a separate OS for steam machines, that would be cheaper, and let them do some "computer stuff" with a controller.

 

That is what I would do anyways. I would be very scared about the game developers simply going OpenGL on everything. PS4 is opengl, mobile, mac, steam os. I am sure they have more inside information then us, so it may be they will abandon direct x all together, or they think they can stop Steam OS. 

[xaeleep]

i give microsoft 10 years  until its downfall

 

A very naive comment. There is nothing even remotely challenging on Microsoft's horizon, they've got their foot so far up people's every day life that there is no way in hell they'll crash and burn that quickly. 

 

Skype, Office, Nokia (Windows Phone), Windows, Silverlight, Outlook, their IT consulting department, Direct X, OEM office hardware, their video game divisions. The list could be made so much longer. Any comment on how Microsoft will fall due to its inability to be competitive in the tablet market and video game development for the PC is a baseless one.

[xaeleep]

Shut down Xbox cus it loses 2-3 billion a year.

 

Take the money you were losing on the dumb Xbox and spend it on kick butt PC DirectX exclusives, like Windows 8/9 only Halo. Make DAMN sure that people LIKE the new 8/9 of Windows. Perhaps make a separate OS for steam machines, that would be cheaper, and let them do some "computer stuff" with a controller.

 

That is what I would do anyways. I would be very scared about the game developers simply going OpenGL on everything. PS4 is opengl, mobile, mac, steam os. I am sure they have more inside information then us, so it may be they will abandon direct x all together, or they think they can stop Steam OS. 

 

Heh, yea right. Everyone seems to be forgetting how insignificant Sony's and Microsoft's gaming divisions actually are to their overall turnover. Also, "That is what I would do anyways." They sure are lucky not to have you as their majority shareholder.

[beebskadoo]

Heh, yea right. Everyone seems to be forgetting how insignificant Sony's and Microsoft's gaming divisions actually are to their overall turnover. Also, "That is what I would do anyways." They sure are lucky not to have you as their majority shareholder.

well for a company that relies on customer satisfaction and feedback, they sure aren't listening are they?

[deathjester]

Heh, yea right. Everyone seems to be forgetting how insignificant Sony's and Microsoft's gaming divisions actually are to their overall turnover. Also, "That is what I would do anyways." They sure are lucky not to have you as their majority shareholder.

 

Do you you have any idea how much the Xbox division has lost them? Or how much Windows 8 not being liked by the masses has cost them? They better care lol. They have a new CEO. Xbox is not "his baby". 

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129463-Microsoft-Loses-2-Billion-Per-Year-On-Xbox-Analyst-Says

 

You know all the investors/shareholders? They read articles like this from Forbes. They want Xbox's head.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/11/08/microsoft-earns-2-billion-a-year-from-android-is-it-time-to-drop-xbox/

 

[xaeleep]

well for a company that relies on customer satisfaction and feedback, they sure aren't listening are they?

 

Did you reply to the right comment? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft is in no way required to change their business model in order to stay relevant and competitive in the markets where they already are. Which are, quite a few.

[beebskadoo]

Did you reply to the right comment? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft is in no way required to change their business model in order to stay relevant and competitive in the markets where they already are. Which are, quite a few.

and that is exactly why they are slowly losing ground. They lost the phone race, they lost tablets, they lost the real innovation that they once had. They just have Xbox and windows/office on the consumer side of things. And they are losing market share.

[xaeleep]

 

You know all the investors/shareholders? They read articles like this from Forbes. They want Xbox's head.

 

Well of course they do, because those divisions aren't making a profit on their own. What they are doing, however, is pushing and marketing other products from Microsoft. Quick note, Microsoft's yearly revenue lies in the $77B area. The fact that Microsoft has lost some $3B in 11 years while collecting 500B of revenue in the same time period proves how insignificant it is. Point proven?

 

EDIT:

 

and that is exactly why they are slowly losing ground. They lost the phone race, they lost tablets, they lost the real innovation that they once had. They just have Xbox and windows/office on the consumer side of things. And they are losing market share.

 

 

 

They were never in a race with anyone, they jumped into the market 2 years after the race. Apart from that, the Surface was launched 1½ years ago, saying that they're losing against their competitors when they haven't even had time to properly establish brand recognition in the tablet market is otiose. Lastly, and I'm sorry, but that last sentence is far too uneducated, straight up incorrect and arrogant for me to bother countering. Especially since such statements were countered five comments ago. If you want to read up on what actually makes up Microsoft you can do so here.