Microsofts Windows Store. Good or Cancer?

[Daginni]

So Microsoft is trying to insert itselfs self into the Windows PC Market by giving its Windows store more buying power. IE you'll find some Xbox "exclusives" being playable on Windows without having to own a Xbox1 which is considered a pretty poor console no one is wowed about with some pretty good exclusives


Is this a good thing, or is this a bad thing?


Lets face it, Steam is pretty much the leader of the PC Market. If you're not going through steam, you're game is probably not going to be noticed unless it gets some considerable advertisements, or community spotlighting. So Microsoft is taking its big ol' ship and ramming it straight into the PC Market, and in some 'alleged' reports, literally breaking games found on steam just so that consumers are forced to buy it on their store.


Personally, I REALLY want Halo Wars 2. I loved the first title and hated how it was buttoned up tight on the Xbox exclusives. I dont think I could be bothered with getting a "Netflix player" ever again. But on my laptop, I would be alright with it.


What are your thoughts on this? Is it good? Is it anti-consumer?


Unrelated awesome trailer.

[aysatsana]

EA did the same thing when they launched origin. It sucks for someone who just wants to use steam for everything but from a business standpoint it's understandable on their part I guess? They are trying to get you to use their platform.

[sabe]

Wow is dying.. no wait PC is dying.
Considering Windows Phone store, i can see the future of this one.
Of course it is a good thing for us but when Microsoft understands they can't compete with Steam they will lose interest in whatever they are trying to achieve.

[Daginni]

Personally, I would be happy if Microsoft provides a PC Port of a game that isnt half assed. Fucking third party companies doing PC Ports.

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Wow is dying.. no wait PC is dying.
Considering Windows Phone store, i can see the future of this one.
Of course it is a good thing for us but when Microsoft understands they can't compete with Steam they will lose interest in whatever they are trying to achieve.

I wouldnt say PC is dying at all. But Consoles took a hit on the new generation. Underwhelming performance overall, and on Microsofts part, mandatory kinect was a horrid move. The thing Console has going for it is you can have a device where game devs tailor make their games to perform on it, even if it handicaps the devs.

[Deleted]

Yup that is the good thing with consoles.
Personaly i just consider Origins / MS store / ubisoft whatever store lost goods. Don't want to deal with those companies if anything goes wrong (technical support/Purchase problems). So for me anything released on those platforms never happened.

Still remember the abomination that was GamesforWindowsLive.

[Daginni]

Yup that is the good thing with consoles.
Personaly i just consider Origins / MS store / ubisoft whatever store lost goods. Don't want to deal with those companies if anything goes wrong (technical support/Purchase problems). So for me anything released on those platforms never happened.

Still remember the abomination that was GamesforWindowsLive.

Ooo... yeah. That's what I am honestly fearing. GFWL was a cancerous tumor when it was slapped on games. Sometimes breaking them.

Microsoft can be... interesting. Its clear that the guys at the top shit on the guys at the bottom. They want something to happen, and its going to happen.

Was listening to a podcast, and they tore the one good feature out of Xbox1. The "Xbox on", "Xbox play", feature and replaced it with Cortana. So if you say "Xbox on" Cortana happily opens a webpage on how to turn on your xbox. Its pretty clear there's a broken area of communication between the devs and the board trying to shove a feature into something.

[caervek]

Cancer, all the cancer.

[Noradin]

Microsoft is trying too hard to bind their customers to themselves.

[Kapadons]

Is that the only two choices? Good or cancer? That's a pretty huge gap.

[Twoddle]

Personally I remove everything that is commercial and to do with "Windows Store" on my computer. I can do without that kind of shite imposed on me on my own machine thank you very much. There are plenty of other channels through which you can buy the stuff you want at your own leisure.

This is another reason I don't touch Apple with a barge pole.

[Belize]

I reserve my judgement for later down the road when it's actually worth using.

I remember the Steam was essentially AIDs Cancer when it launched. Arguably it still is...

[paralleluniverse]

Good.

1. Steam desperately needs competition.

2. Xbox is being merged with Windows 10. Increasingly for more games, it will be possible to buy once on either platform and playable on both, and the Xbox hardware is moving to iterative updates. Like how you can buy a game on Steam once and play it on both your current computer and another better computer, because it's just the same software/server that can be accessed by any hardware running Windows.

[Deleted]

God I wish people would stop using the word cancer this way... it is just an edgy way of saying ''horrible''.
Why only two extremes?
Competition is always good for the consumer

[Independent voter]

God I wish people would stop using the word cancer this way... it is just an edgy way of saying ''horrible''.
Why only two extremes?
Competition is always good for the consumer

I think the same way. Remember when people went crazy about the Xbone? Well if the Xbone went out of business what do you think Sony would do with PlayStation? Without competition, nothing good.

[Vash The Stampede]

It's bad, like really bad for various reasons.

It should be understand that anytime you buy a game or app through these stores the store keeps about 30% of the sale. This is why we have Steam, Origin, Uplay, Battle.net, and etc. They get to keep that 30% if they open up their own store. Microsoft is trying to push for the Windows Store, which is really bad. Firstly because Windows is the #1 OS people use to game on, so by default everyone gets Windows Store. Secondly, Microsoft doesn't have interests in Mac or Linux support, where as services like Steam and Battle.net do. Finally, it will push for Microsoft based services like Xbox and Windows Phones. As we know how Microsoft works, they don't support other platforms very well.

As gamers we really don't want Windows Store to be successful, cause otherwise we'll be playing games on Xbox consoles or through Windows. If Microsoft had their way, it'll be just through Xbox.

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I think the same way. Remember when people went crazy about the Xbone? Well if the Xbone went out of business what do you think Sony would do with PlayStation? Without competition, nothing good.

Technically the PS4 has competition, it's called the PC. So long as PC exists, the PS4 can't do what they want, even though they already do. How much do people pay to play PS4 or Xbox1 games online? How much do PC users pay? People keep justifying the price of $60 a month for this crap.

[Ryme]

What about it makes it a cancer? It's not pervasive, it's locked to windows, it won't even reach the majority of gaming.

[Endus]

As gamers we really don't want Windows Store to be successful, cause otherwise we'll be playing games on Xbox consoles or through Windows. If Microsoft had their way, it'll be just through Xbox.

The current status quo is that you can buy games for Xbox, or for Windows, but if you buy it for either, you only get it for that platform, and Xbox exclusives require you to have an Xbox.

The Windows Store will blur that, letting customers get a copy for both their Windows machine and their Xbox, if they buy it for either, and allowing for Xbox "exclusives" to also be available through Windows.

All this does is add flexibility and options for Windows and Xbox consumers. I can't see any way this is a negative.