Microsoft on PC gaming: “we lost our way”, promises a better future

Boomstick777 said:
The vast majority of PC game sales are on Steam though, so it's a massive threat to Microsoft, for all those gamers not to need Windows, if OpenGL gets more from hardware, and SteamOS is functional and free, I think Microsoft have to be a lil worried.

Competition brings out the best in company's though so maybe this will all be a good thing..
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The vast majority of PC users aren't gamers, though there are significant numbers but as Fire_fly said, the majority of the SteamOS catalogue won't actually work on SteamOS and requires a PC to play and stream it. Making SteamOS fundamentally requiring a working and powered on Windows PC in the same house for the majority of gamers for at least a couple of years.

Steam OS isn't that big a threat right now, considering stuff like BF4 almost certainly won't work on SteamOS, multiple other Steam titles.

It's akin to having two consoles, but lets say the PS3 had no 1st party titles that were exclusive, IE every game worked on the 360, but the 360 had some really good games that weren't available on the PS3, who would buy a PS3. This is what we're seeing with SteamOS, limiting your ability to play all games, with little upside.

The majority of performance improvement from SteamOS will be work on Mantle and openGL, for which all the extra work will improve performance on Windows as well.

I like many others here will no doubt install and try SteamOS, but considering the lack of extra features on SteamOS, the idea of rebooting to get into SteamOS seems like I won't bother for long. Want to use office, check e-mails, edit a video, download media, other stuff or play games that won't work on SteamOS, then I have to reboot into windows. Ultimately I'm not going to bother often it at all after a few tries. IE 10% more performance for a few native games, but having to boot back into Windows for 90% of my games and 98% of other things I do on a PC besides game?

This also assumes a lack of lag/quality reduction when streaming games which is.... at best, optimistic.

SteamOS is for me, 2 years to early. 2 years of openGL/Mantle and a huge number of titles with all AAA titles being persuaded to support them over that time. Then you bring out SteamOS and suddenly every game for the past 2 years as well as all games in the next decade will support SteamOS, with no streaming, no lag or quality loss.
 
MS is in decline and they know it. It is the beginning of the end of the PC era and they don't have a viable alternative. Every channel they have tried has been met with little interest; I watched a guy in a phone shop yesterday show interest in a Windows phone and his girlfriend immediately put it down in disgust because it was Windows rather than IOS or Android (I was genuinely surprised how unhappy she was).

Windows is still extremely dominant in the workplace but long term (5 to 10 years) Bring Your Own Device will start to erode that. Office? Hard to see that this will be replaced to be honest in a work environment but there are several free alternatives so who knows.

Outlook? Increasingly small companies are finding Google fine for their needs. They still hold sway in most companies but the crack is there.

Apple is the product of choice for many people at home and for everyone else Linux isn't viable due to the lack of games... could Mantle and Steam change that? Well even if it doesn't then arguably PC gaming may be in it's twilight now with more and more people casually gaming on tablets.

MS really do need to keep control of gaming otherwise many people simply won't have a reason to buy a PC. Without a PC the Windows market dwindles. Without a PC why do people need Outlook or the rest of Office?
 
MS can buy Valve with their spare change that's about it really :rolleyes: anything else will be a total waste of time/effort.

Who would trust them again after the GFWL farce & final insult of shutting the servers down too early (really MS you cannot afford to keep those running for a few more years :rolleyes:).

......but I expect the same half hearted efforts like Xbox One exclusive games in about a year coming to Win 8.1 only using DX11.2 :rolleyes:

MS know they are old news its only a matter of time before they become completely irrelevant period. Its full of bloated management tinkering with everything trying to squeeze every last drop of money out of the consumer with no real regard for their loyalty quite the opposite in fact you only need to look at the way they are running Xbox LIVE into the ground to understand just how out of touch they are with what the consumer wants (hassle free ad free gaming experiences).
 
I think SteamOS has something to do with this. Valve have a track record of doing things right, which is probably worrying for OS/Console/games producers and will hopefully be the catalyst for better service and games across the board.
 
I would love love love MS to invest in gaming like they did during the 90s I don't care if it is buying up studios as it give financial stability to the studios.... I hope that they do invest in Windows gaming :)

Stelly
 
Rossi~ said:
This +10293842091483217405823705432543
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Although its already been pointed out by Arknor, you do know who Chris Roberts is? You know the guy responsible for the Wing Commander, Privateer, Star Lancer and the Freelancer series of games? You really might want to google Star Citizen / Squadron 42...
 
Monkeh said:
Although its already been pointed out by Arknor, you do know who Chris Roberts is? You know the guy responsible for the Wing Commander, Privateer, Star Lancer and the Freelancer series of games? You really might want to google Star Citizen / Squadron 42...
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it will have a single player mode called "squadron 42" and an online mode "star citizen" that will be similar to freelancer but even more mmo like ;)

those ship promo vids are apparently rendered in real time using ingame assets
 
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Halfmad said:
Anyone else think GFWL was probably ironically the start of the decline?
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Nope you give it way too much credit it was more to do with Bill Gates letting Steve Ballmer run the company into the ground look where Ballmer is now & the mess MS has gotten themselves into with no obvious way out except further towards going bust.
 
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