Microsoft's Head Of Pc Gaming Calls It Quits.

[deathjester]

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:

 

 

 

 

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.

 

So you are saying that losing money for no reason is a good thing? I am confused here. Is Xbox considered a charity? Do they write off the expenses? Please enlighten me. 

 

We are well aware at how much cash MS rolls in. That doesn't mean you keep rolling with failures, or not change things. They sure seem to be racing to fix Windows 8...

 

Was Xbox Microsoft's gift to the world to  give PC gamers crappy textures for over a decade? If so, the Xbox is a SMASHING success. Financially? It has no reason to exist, unless MS really hates Sony? Maybe Xbox is just a big FU to Sony and Nintendo? Because why not.

[xaeleep]

So you are saying that losing money for no reason is a good thing? I am confused here. Is Xbox considered a charity? Do they write off the expenses? Please enlighten me. 

 

We are well aware at how much cash MS rolls in. That doesn't mean you keep rolling with failures, or not change things. They sure seem to be racing to fix Windows 8...

 

Was Xbox Microsoft's gift to the world to  give PC gamers crappy textures for over a decade? If so, the Xbox is a SMASHING success. Financially? It has no reason to exist, unless MS really hates Sony? Maybe Xbox is just a big FU to Sony and Nintendo? Because why not.

 

The reason why it was funded to begin with (or at least a big one) ​was to get a foothold in peoples living rooms, by having such a foothold, marketing products proves to be a lot easier. I see it as an extension of their marketing department, I'm assuming Gates and Ballmer saw something similar, otherwise it would have been shut down a long time ago. I guess "the end justifies the means" motivated it. 

 

EDIT: Words

[AlexGoesHigh]

not with the pathetically low speed at which internet connections in many countries are advancing. 

i second this, my country has been stuck whit 2mb broadband for almost a decade, and last year one ISP launched "fiber" but only at 10mb and the process has been stupidly slow because they ran out of supported modems stupidly fast

[Scionyde]

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?

 

Heh, it's a little sad when the best thing they've done for PC gaming was fixing a problem they created in the first place.

 

Anyway, last I heard a few weeks ago, they still had "no plans" to remove GFWL from all their Microsoft games (Gears of War, Halo 2, Fable 3). They're not great games, sure but really Microsoft? Really...

[GoodBytes]

You should this graph, but you fail to understand this graph:

Also, your graph stops at 2012.

[DudeWazap]

not with the pathetically low speed at which internet connections in many countries are advancing. 

Sadly this is true. Comcast and Time Warner refuse to upgrade to fiber... Makes me very sad.

[ShiverMePenguins]

i remember that guy. i think he's an idiot for leaving valve for microsoft. nothing good can come of working for microsoft.

[Misanthrope]

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.

 

So you're basically saying "Valve needs to release a flatout gaming console" when you said locked down and minimum specs and all that. No, that won't work. That would make em have 0 differentiation with the xbone and the PS4 which are already better and have a much stronger foot in the market. That console market however? It's on a crash course and it won't be long before it's gone. We WILL see another videogame crash and it wont be pretty.

In fact, Valve has the best chance to survive since it's pushing their platform with very little investment and henceforth very little risk. Whenever or not it will take roots quickly or not depends on how quickly people start supporting it and it already has a ton of support and games, just not what you expect: PC Gaming will quickly change into a market of smaller indie type games. You wont see many big budget, fancy games being quickly ported over to SteamOS but those are precisely the problem on the console side: it's why they're quickly alienating their customers with extremely shady business practices like chopping up games to push DLC (Hell we already have a publisher on record saying they won't fix game breaking bugs for the new Batman game and instead focus on DLC) endless microtransactions and season passes, all kinds of shit to get more money from the customers instead of making the game development sustainable and utilizing sensible budgets.

[Misanthrope]

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.

 

Out of those, only the IT consulting department and cloud services will remain. You see by saying that we'll see a Microsoft "downfall" I interpret it as saying "10 years from now Microsoft will only sell IT consulting and cloud services, there will be no home entertainment division, no operative system division, no mobile phones division, etc" Because out of that list, Google will likely crush em on voip, office apps, phones hell even gaming will be more profitable on mobile devices than consoles (see my other comment on why I think AAA gaming will die)

[Almostlastplace]

Sadly this is true. Comcast and Time Warner refuse to upgrade to fiber... Makes me very sad.

What I find even more sad is that companies like Comcast, Warner, and Verizon are more willing to lobby for the prevention of fiber optic networks starting than to just make one for themselves that doesn't suck. (Sorry in advance for any typos I write this on a phone)

[DudeWazap]

What I find even more sad is that companies like Comcast, Warner, and Verizon are more willing to lobby for the prevention of fiber optic networks starting than to just make one for themselves that doesn't suck. (Sorry in advance for any typos I write this on a phone)

I Completely agree with you.

 

I told Time Warner that as soon as Google Fiber is available here in Texas I will be canceling my service and switching. And all they said was "Oh we are sorry to here that but, here at Time Warner we strive to please our loyal customers". That's BS to me.

[beebskadoo]

So you're basically saying "Valve needs to release a flatout gaming console" when you said locked down and minimum specs and all that. No, that won't work. That would make em have 0 differentiation with the xbone and the PS4 which are already better and have a much stronger foot in the market. That console market however? It's on a crash course and it won't be long before it's gone. We WILL see another videogame crash and it wont be pretty.

In fact, Valve has the best chance to survive since it's pushing their platform with very little investment and henceforth very little risk. Whenever or not it will take roots quickly or not depends on how quickly people start supporting it and it already has a ton of support and games, just not what you expect: PC Gaming will quickly change into a market of smaller indie type games. You wont see many big budget, fancy games being quickly ported over to SteamOS but those are precisely the problem on the console side: it's why they're quickly alienating their customers with extremely shady business practices like chopping up games to push DLC (Hell we already have a publisher on record saying they won't fix game breaking bugs for the new Batman game and instead focus on DLC) endless microtransactions and season passes, all kinds of shit to get more money from the customers instead of making the game development sustainable and utilizing sensible budgets.

you misunderstood what I am saying. Minimum spec doesn't mean only spec. Consoles have a closed system when it comes to hardware, steam machines won't. But the minimum needs to be established because what good is a steam machine if it can't play games?

[Misanthrope]

you misunderstood what I am saying. Minimum spec doesn't mean only spec. Consoles have a closed system when it comes to hardware, steam machines won't. But the minimum needs to be established because what good is a steam machine if it can't play games?

 

Setting minimum specs sets a dangerous precedent, you're telling people "you must have at least his specs to enjoy the experience" where a great deal of indie games on steam require basically next to nothing to run. Yes I am saying that Valve should attempt to capture some of those casual types with their indie library, those would be running fine with just about the lowest end hardware you can buy right now, particularly because Linux is already way more efficient to manage resources

[beebskadoo]

Setting minimum specs sets a dangerous precedent, you're telling people "you must have at least his specs to enjoy the experience" where a great deal of indie games on steam require basically next to nothing to run. Yes I am saying that Valve should attempt to capture some of those casual types with their indie library, those would be running fine with just about the lowest end hardware you can buy right now, particularly because Linux is already way more efficient to manage resources

I was saying minimum spec for OEM builders not on the OS in general. Most casual hangers would rather buy a 'console' and have it work.

[deathjester]

You should this graph, but you fail to understand this graph:

Also, your graph stops at 2012.

 

Well seeing the Xbox One fails as a media machine.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-ps4-vs-xbox-one-which-is-the-better-media-player

 

And...the gpu in the Xbox one is a joke? You should be glad it stops at 2012. This isn't like ps3/xbox one where one console is hard to dev for. They are both x86 machines with a low level API. One has really horrendous load times and a horrible graphics card and costs 100 bucks more.

 

People are going to stop spending 500 bucks on a crappy x86 gaming machine that can't even do media well, and that was pointless in the first place since people have smart tv's and things like rotaku/chromecast are cheap as hell and offer more. The only place the Xbox has ever been popular is the western world and many people are switching to Sony this time around due to superior hardware/price. 

 

Initial sales mean jack. Wii U had great initial sales, SWTOR was the "fastest growing mmo". 

 

Western Media is even now being critical of the Xbox One. The machine is bad. It is bad because of the GPU. Because it is a console? They can't fix that issue.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/technology/personaltech/review-the-xbox-one-versus-the-playstation-4.html

[Ethnod]

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

 

Ehh, get out of the bloody way?? MS have been hindering games being released to PC over the years, in some cases games have not come to PC because of Games for Windows and in others (where being deved for PC only) they have not come out at all

MS, just step back and get out of the way

[GuestForeverX]

for Microsoft if they want to push PC gaming. Put Gears 123J+FutureGears/Exclusive Titles on PC, and give us the Xbone Controller.

btw why don't we have the controller yet, I mean it runs on Custom Windows Kernal on xbox which is also x86.

[Humbug]

Microsoft did not foresee the current popularity of PC gaming. If you rewind the clock back to 2005, the conventional wisdom is different from what it was now. When the xbox 360 launched it was common for people to assume that consoles were going to take over the entire market and that the PC as a gaming machine was on it's way out. In reality what happened is that both co-existed. All Microsoft's external communication regarding gaming as well have been about xbox, xbox and more xbox because they have a clear commercial model for that.

 

Despite the fact that they have almost a monopoly on the PC operating system side for gaming they have not found a way to directly make money out of it. On the other had Steam and Origin are making money out of it. It's no wonder what Microsoft prefers to push the xbox as a gaming platform. From the outside it's a bit comical when you see a Microsoft publishing AAA games like Halo and not supporting their own OS (windows), while other third party devs support it.

[ACatWithThumbs]

Microsoft did not foresee the current popularity of PC gaming. If you rewind the clock back to 2005, the conventional wisdom is different from what it was now. When the xbox 360 launched it was common for people to assume that consoles were going to take over the entire market and that the PC as a gaming machine was on it's way out. In reality what happened is that both co-existed. All Microsoft's external communication regarding gaming as well have been about xbox, xbox and more xbox because they have a clear commercial model for that.

 

Despite the fact that they have almost a monopoly on the PC operating system side for gaming they have not found a way to directly make money out of it. On the other had Steam and Origin are making money out of it. It's no wonder what Microsoft prefers to push the xbox as a gaming platform. From the outside it's a bit comical when you see a Microsoft publishing AAA games like Halo and not supporting their own OS (windows), while other third party devs support it.

But MS has it so easy.

Almost every PC gamer uses Windows so everybody is already in there Eco system they just have to make something out of it.

But instead they made DX11.1/11.2 Windows 8/8.1 exclusive and made Games for Windows Live

Like they could have even made a special gaming version of Windows.

Or they could make an gaming upgrade pack for Windows with gaming features.

Like build in recording/streaming,fps counter,Low Level DX11,TV mode,OC utility,Voice chat system ect. 

They could build everything that we have now with Steam,Fraps,Geforce experience,EVGA precision,Shadowplay ect. and just build it into Windows.

That would make everybodys life easier and would pull way more gamers to PC and would bring extra cash to MS.