Valve boss Gabe Newell calls Windows 8 a catastrophe on PC gaming

[PurpleGaga27 40]

Oh, the humanity!!

 

26 July 2012 Last updated at 11:39

 

Valve boss Gabe Newell calls Windows 8 a 'catastrophe'

 

Operating system Windows 8 will be a "catastrophe" for PC game makers, according to Valve Software's boss.

 

Speaking at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, Gabe Newell said the next version of Windows could mean big changes to the PC market. Many took his comment as a criticism of the changed user interface in Windows 8 as well as its built-in Windows Store. The Windows Store could dent the success of Valve's own online market, Steam, through which players buy games.

 

Hat tricks

Mr Newell, who worked for Microsoft for 13 years on Windows, said his company had embraced the open-source software Linux as a "hedging strategy" designed to offset some of the damage Windows 8 was likely to do.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well," said Mr Newell.

"Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space."

 

The arrival of Windows 8 would be likely to drive some PC makers and others out of the business because it put so much pressure on their sales margins, Mr Newell added. He said the success of Valve, known for its Half Life, Left4Dead and Portal titles, had been down to the open nature of the PC. "We've been a free rider, and we've been able to benefit from everything that went into PCs and the internet," he told the conference. "And we have to continue to figure out how there will be open platforms."

 

However, he added, the openness that helped Valve as well as firms such as Google and Zynga could disappear with Windows 8. "There's a strong temptation to close the platform," he said, "because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors' access to the platform, and they say, 'That's really exciting.'"

This is seen by commentators to be a reference to the inclusion of a Windows Store in the Microsoft operating system.

This is a shop through which users will be able to buy apps for their Windows 8 device.

On some versions of Windows 8, it will be the only way to get downloadable software such as games.

Microsoft takes a cut, up to 30%, of every sale made through this store.

This could be a significant threat to the massively successful Steam online game store that Valve runs and which gives it a commission on every title sold through the online market.

A Windows Store closed to everyone but Microsoft might reduce the range of games available for sale through Steam.

Windows 8's links with Microsoft's Xbox Live online game service could also dent the appeal of Steam for many people.

Mr Newell said Valve was preparing for the future in other ways. In particular, he said, it was trying to make tools and services that players could use to make games and gaming more fun for everyone.

"We think the future is very different [from] successes we've had in the past," he said.

"When you are playing a game, you are trying to think about creating value for other players, so the line between content player and creator is really fuzzy."

One harbinger of this future was perhaps found, he said, in the success of one Team Fortress player in Kansas who was earning $150,000 (£97,000) a year making virtual hats.

"This isn't about video games," he said. "It's about thinking about goods and services in a digital world."

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-18996377

 

I bet Valve fears of Microsoft making their own cloud app system in Windows 8 to sell their games and other software online to bump up the selling competition of downloadable games against all others. Stream vs. Origin will become Steam vs. Origin vs. Windows. There's no truthful argument that Windows 8 will kill PC gaming once and for all just because it uses mostly tablet features and even tablets can still play games but under a limited gaming performance.

 

And..... Steam on Linux and not enough on Mac OS?? Madness!! Barely a few great gamers can play a limited number of games on Linux.

 

At first I thought it was the beginning of the fall for Facebook and Zynga but after doomsday, I thought Microsoft will soon be next.

 

What's your take on this?

Edited August 31, 2012 by Sonic

[Doctor Destiny 41]

This sounds like hyperbole to be honest. Windows 8 is Windows 7 with a new shell. Unless Microsoft makes it so services like Steam and Origin don't run, I doubt this exaggeration will be valid.

[Luk3us 63]

Didn't he say something similar about the PS3 way back in the day? And that turned out fine.

[Sonic 296]

I think Windows 8 is going to be an overall flop anyway. Much like Vista was on initial release. I don't expect to see the same rapid rate of people migrating to Windows 8 as they did with Windows 7.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Flop in the PC market but not mobile. Mobile... it will be a king.

[Inferno 22]

I wouldn't be too sure... Many people are hooked on Android.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

I dunno. I've used the Metro UI and it's pretty damn good. Android is awesome but Metro... it's ****in' good.

[Inferno 22]

I don't know, I always felt like Windows just lacked in the customisation department... I'm not sure how W8 looks, so I suppose I should keep an open mind.

[Luk3us 63]

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/23419/blizzard-executive-agrees-with-gabe-newells-windows-8-is-a-catastrophe-remarks

 

Apparently Blizzard aren't too thrilled with Win 8 either.

[Guest Stevie_K]

I'm confident that the feared "Microsoft controlled download shop app" is only going to be in the version for the smartphones and tablets. It's simply too much of a risk (and plain stupid) to try and enforce something like that on the ever growing PC community.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

^ This. And I really doubt Windows 8 will cause this massive "shift" in PC gaming. Every new OS always seems to have someone saying it will be terrible for gaming.

[Nmenth 291]

Every new OS always seems to have someone saying it will be terrible for gaming.

Probably because every new OS is terrible for gaming... until gaming inevitably adapts to the new OS.

[Saracen 16]

Windows goes on a good, crap, good, crap cycle..

 

But then, there was also news that Valve discovered that Linux and OpenGL ran Left for dead 2 significantly faster than in a Windows Direct X environment. Valve claimed they optimised the game for windows for quite a significant chunk of the Beta development cycle. A few coding changes later to make the game Native to Linux as a test for their Linux native Steam platform, and the results shocked them.

 

Looks like they're the 1st major developer to realise that if done right. OpenGL is still (and always has been) far superior to DirectX. Plus the less resource hogging Linux Kernal improves gaming as a platform as well.

 

I hope more developers can do similar tests for their titles that go on Steam and achieve similar results. It could cause a huge Paradigm shift in PC gaming. The less the need for optimisation on an open source platform, the more time dedicated to critical development.

 

We're probably still talking another 3-5 years at least down the line before Linux becomes a viable contender in being a true OS for gamers. But Microsoft will hate the competition if it can. But with competition comes better quality, innovation and features. Ultimately that creates better products for the public to consume. It can only be a good thing. Because since 1995, Windows evolution has been slow, they've had no need to compete since most of their PC-centric revenue is from the sale of OEM licenses.

 

That will continue for some time through the early life-cycle of Windows 8. But think about it. If Linux can crack the nut, get the attention of Software developers, which in turn gets the attention of companies like Lenovo, Dell, HP etc.. They can easily cut out the middle man, download OEM Linux distros, not incur the cost of paying for extortionate Windows Licenses, which means the costs remain down, and that gets passed on to consumers. So a PC costing $1200 suddenly is now $1000 or cheaper under a Linux OS.

 

It would be a beautiful thing!

[TheBlackOut 7]

Well, the diversity of distros for Linux is a problem for a united gaming platform. Plus, the support of games is still not there and probably won't be there for a long time.

 

The biggest hurtle is one you highlighted Saracen, the lack of attention of the PC vendors. Dell has Ubuntu shipping by default on some machines here in the US but it's not popular and mostly targets devs and ****. Normal people, even gamers, probably don't want to go through the hassle of installing an OS.

 

Plus, if you go outside of the Ubuntu spectrum, installing a Linux distro can be frustrating, even for someone who sort of knows what they're doing (installing Fedora was not a cake walk for me recently -- got it done though!)

 

---

 

As far as Windows 8 goes... meh. I don't see how it's a radical shift for us desktop users. And I like playing around with it on a tablet, the interface is nice. I might pick up a Surface. My mom won an iPad2 a while back and I played with it, I like it, but I donno, I guess I just don't really have a practical need for a tablet. Maybe if I traveled more or something.

 

M$ really needs to price Win8 right though. I think they should try to lower the price to get more people to adopt it so they can integrate stuff better and really market the tablet space and push it hard (oh? this video on your desktop? we'll sync it with your MS Surface.. etc)

[PurpleGaga27 40]

It appears Kotaku got mixed responses regarding to this:

http://kotaku.com/5936535/windows-8-is-not-good-for-gamers?tag=windows-8

and

http://kotaku.com/5937590/youre-being-lied-to-windows-8-isnt-bad-for-gaming?tag=windows-8

 

Here's even one reason China is still dependent on PC and Internet gaming:

http://kotaku.com/5587577/why-are-consoles-banned-in-china

[Luk3us 63]

I had a look at the new Windows 8, and yeah, it looks more like what I'd expect on a tablet than a desktop PC.

 

Why does everything have to change.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Metro does, but the desktop is just Windows 7 with some altered eyecandy.