Previous
Microsoft's Kevin Unangst Interview
PC Interview by Ellie Gibson
Page 1 of 2.
Page 2 
In February 2006, then Xbox boss Peter Moore took to the stage at the DICE Summit to say sorry. "I want to apologise," he told the audience, "For the dereliction of duty to our company's number one platform, the PC, in terms of gaming." He admitted Microsoft had been "a little distracted" in the run-up to the launch of Xbox 360, adding, "Mea culpa. We've been busy."
But things would change, Moore pledged, with Games for Windows. The idea was to create a new brand for PC games which would be seen by consumers as being synonymous with quality, reliability and ease of use.
Microsoft does not charge developers or publishers a royalty fee for the brand, but there are around 25 requirements to be met before games can bear the GfW logo. They must be easy to install, for example, support widescreen displays and offer users the option to set parental controls. In return, Microsoft promised to build better relationships with retailers, invest more in global advertising and make games a main feature of Vista in a bid to boost the profile of PC gaming.
By the end of 2007 more than 50 titles had been released under the GfW name, including top-sellers such as BioShock, Gears of War and Crysis. But it wasn't an easy ride for Microsoft. Games for Windows Live came under heavy criticism, there were patch issues with Gears of War and so far only two games supporting cross-platform play between PC and Xbox 360 have been released. And despite Microsoft's efforts, high profile industry figures such as Epic's Cliff Bleszinski are still bemoaning the state of PC gaming.
So at this year's Game Developers Conference, we welcomed the opportunity to put some of these issues to Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows. Here he discusses what's next for GfW Live, why retail sales don't tell the whole story and how the PC Gaming Alliance plans to set the record straight.
Eurogamer: How do you think Games for Windows has fared in its first year?
Kevin Unangst: When you add up all the things we've done in the first year, we've moved on quite a bit. We're absolutely not done; we'll continue to invest in things like Live and our online service.
We're also investing in the XNA tools that let people create games that can run on the PC, console and the Zune. We're making sure anyone who wants to can create games for any of our platforms. That is a very significant difference between our approach and what you see from Sony and Nintendo.
When you look at all the pieces put together, I think this has been a fantastic foundational year for Games for Windows. We've made a lot of progress. With the title line-up we have and the technology that's in place, 2008 is going to be even better.
Eurogamer: Let's talk about Games for Windows Live specifically. What's next for the service?
Kevin Unangst: We'll continue to invest in it. We've heard about a lot of things poeple want, things like digital distribution. At the end of the day our goal is to be the best PC online service for gaming. We've learned a lot this year and we're listening to developers.
Eurogamer: What about gamers? What about complaints the Games for Windows Live Gold subscription doesn't offer good value for money?
Kevin Unangst: It goes back to things we've learned. Going out of the gate, we weren't as clear as we should have been that Games for Windows Live on the PC is free. You don't have to pay for Gold. If you want to play cross-platform games, that's when you need a Gold subscription...
We were not as clear as we could have been. People assumed we were trying to bring the Xbox model over to the PC, which we were not.
Anybody can get a free Silver account on the PC, and if I want to play all my friends on Gears of War on the PC it won't cost me anything. Our challenge is to be clear on the message we're not charging for Games for Windows Live.
Eurogamer: Do you think PC Gold subscribers are getting as much value as Xbox 360 Gold subscribers?
Kevin Unangst: We have gotten the feedback that says, 'There's no Marketplace', 'Where are all the other features Xbox Live Gold members get?' The users have to decide - has it been worth USD 5 per month, or less, to play with my friends on the games I care about? It's really only been Shadowrun and Universe at War. Particularly if you're only playing games like Universe of War, I think it's been a good deal.
But are we talking to the partners and understanding how to get clearer? Will we continue to invest to bring more value? Absolutely. It's really only been 10 months on the market. We had to build from there, and I think you'll see more things from us in the future.
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
|
QPRHOOPS81
07/03/08 @ 11:47
0
i didnt know that about live. I decided against getting Gears for the PC as i certainly wasnt going to pay for the privilidge of playing it online. I might pick it up now as i love co-op gaming. Is the PC port ok? and do many people play it online?
|
|
0
Nice interview. I, for one, really hope that PC gaming is given the attention it deserves.
The main obstacle has always been the fact you don't just put the disk in the drive and start playing - installing is one thing, but getting games to auto-configure themselves to your particular setup is surely something that should have been sorted by now. Sure, some games offer "Default" settings, but in my experience they are almost always too cautious and reduce settings or resolutions more than is really necessary. I've haven't made the leap to Vista yet, so I don't know how it's improved there, but getting the O/S to automatically keep drivers and such up to date would be wonderful too. |
|
Kirly_Wombat
07/03/08 @ 12:06
0
Games for windows seems good, the only piece of crap is the Windows version of live. Just make it free or why bother.
Edited : Yes I didnt read the article very well, apologies, was not long awake.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 07/03/08 @ 21:47
|
|
0
kirly its free for me to not be able to play a single games for windows live game because I am not properly online everytime I play it. So Ive spent £100 on games that I cant play and no help forthcoming from the "games for windows" people on how to get round this issue whatsoever.
sure im on a weird uni network now, but what about the ppl who want to play a game on their laptop on a journey or woteva?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 07/03/08 @ 12:11
|
|
QPRHOOPS81
07/03/08 @ 12:25
0
"60 million DX10 cards? I find this information questionable. "
yeah but most of those are running on XP so not using DX 10. Its quite funny as most high end gamers (the ones who have the latest cards) prefer XP. |
|
0
I suspect that eventually games will be tied into your Live account and that's why more publishers will jump on the bandwagon because the PC space desperately needs a solution to piracy. Games for Windows is an excellent idea, that has flopped but hopefully they fix it.
FFS! Make online play free for console owners too. It's a joke he mentioned the marketplace as a reason for charging as if we should be happy about paying for a shop! |
|
0
"There are There are 60 million DirectX 10-capable cards out on the market now. "
The vast majority of which CANNOT PLAY DX10 games since they are so crippled. DX10 so far has provided an interesting way to bring your 8800 GTX to its knees whilst providing extra blur. This is the sort of b***t that you expect from microsof and the disaster that is vista. |
|
0
This time, the "early next-gen console days", will naturally be a bad time for PC gaming, as people can get a console which delivers about the same "gaming power" as a PC three or two times the price, and with a lot less hassle attached - easy to set up, comfortable to use in the living room, just a relaxing experience. Crouching over the keyboard is a lot less relaxing - I know, I just recently made the switch.
However - in two or three years, affordable PC's will be so far ahead of console power again, and there ill be games for PC that you just can't touch on any of the consoles. Well, maybe. Anyway, gaming PC's won't really be good value again until then. Two other relaly important factors: Vista is just not gaming friendly. It's a sluggish system, making iven word processors move slowly. Its actually not progress at all (I bought a new "gaming laptop" with Vista to enjoy Bioshock, ad was apalled at the piss-poor performance - not only is the game buggy and pretty much unplayable on this setup, the system takes ages to boot up and soon. It's just not an attractive gaming experience. Oh, and Vista seems to be incompatible with Steam, at least on my rig. Second, the consoles are pretty good for the small, odd niche titles these days, too. I can fire up Snakeball, Riff or any Xbox live Arcade game really with quirky and innovative gameplay; good stuff and really cheap too, stuff traditionally found exclusively on PC (but requiring a lot of effort to track down) are no easily found on the consoles, cheap, and with no-hassle install. Here's a suggested fix for PC gaming: 1. Strip Vista down to the basics, make a "gamer's boot option" or something, something that allows games to utilise as much of the system resoruces as possible. 2. Installing is reportedly easyer, and so I assume the settings are easier too - next are the drivers. Especially the graphics card drivers, which need to be updated continously. Make a better system for that. Windows Updateis not doing the job right, if at all. 3. Make quiet graphics cards - actually, make quiet PC's all-round, but the GFX cards are the main culprit in terms of noise. Nvidia and ATI are focussed on making more powerful, cutting edge etc graphics, with horrible fan noise simply being accepted. That needs to be adressed; maybe establish a series of g-card standards: performance levels within certain parameters such as noise and energy consumption. Again, the benchmark-system thing in Vista is a step in the right direction, continue with that. 4. Continuing on the last point: make some understandable standards. "Built for Vista" is one 5. And lastly: An open source OS that can run DirectX and hence any game made for Windows would actually save "PC gaming". Maybe get inter-compatibility with Mac OS. I think that would seriously boost "PC gaming" - like being able to play somthing worthwhile off a mac mini on a big screen TV in the living room would be ace. That would require a lot of Microsoft, who has to remain competitive of course, so that is probably not an option. Or is it? Would they loose a lot by opening up DirectX - and then prove that Windows is till the best platform for Direct X games? Apart from that, they're actually doing a lot of good stuff too, like the XNA thing. So it's definately a positive development, but there's a lot of heavy lifting still ahead. |
|
0
GW isn't free, and it also hinders any kind of speedy support from the devs. this is just an example. UAW, it's patch was delay for like months awaiting GW approval, and that was just a patch during beta.
they withheld alot of key features from their multiplayer to sort of force people to get gold for GW. gold isn't just for cross platform play, that is just a flat out lie. if it were just for the cross platform feature, no one will complain. I thought they wanted good PR? why tell more lies and make themselves dirtier? |
|
Mho7276501
07/03/08 @ 13:24
0
@olemak i think you have must have some problems with your setup, i have been using vista since august and i am on Steam every night, i run old my old games through Steam with no problems so far. Also i had no problem running bioshock maxed out with no dips in performance, which was the same as the other people i know also running vista. It must be that you have a crap machine, sorry dude. Get more ram.
|
|
0
what was the point in that interview?, he answered no questions, no specifics as what to expect for PC xbox live, you didnt press him on any point, the games for windows is a joke just like this wast of time interview
Recently US PC gamer interviewed MS and pandered also yet in their podcast they bitch about it all the time, why bother interviewing if you never press them on anything |
|
0
I wish when you have someone on ignore it would blank out what they say when other people are quoting them too. Ohh, Miiguel
Anyway "Here's a suggested fix for PC gaming: 1. Strip Vista down to the basics, make a "gamer's boot option" or something, something that allows games to utilise as much of the system resoruces as possible. " That's a good idea actually, and something i've thought about before. I'd like to see something like that. Games for Windows though - they claim they wanted to make PC gaming "easier", whatever that means, and then the two big titles, Bioshock and Gears of War, both had huge problems on launch. And if widescreen is mandatory, what was the hoo-har with Bioshock about? Anyway, yeah. |
|
0
Microsoft are partially to blame for the current problems with PC games. Trying to force Vista down our throats as the only way to get DX10 has been a disaster for gaming. DX10 being Vista-only looks like a cynical attempt to push sales and the online forums are full of people with problems getting their games to work, and even when they do, the performance is crap.
To the people who'll now chime in with, "I use Vista and have no problems", that's great for you, but there's enough evidence of problems that I have no intention of touching Vista as long as I can play games on XP. So we have a fragmented PC gaming world between Vista and XP and no clear way forward. And as noted, 60 million DX10 cards is not the same as 60 million PCs running Vista. |
|
0
"I wish when you have someone on ignore it would blank out what they say when other people are quoting them too. Ohh, Miiguel "
Why most fellow EGers have this need to publicize that they've put "fellow EGer XPTO on my - so cool - ignore list ?" anyway, Katso, you are not on my ignore list (oh so cool...) because I love you so. "@miiiguel Its the pc gaming industry's idiotic ideas like "games for windows live" that is fuelling piracy. " You know it's not only that..., piracy in PC gaming is huge, since way before games for windows. Same with movies and music..., that's not really MS or anyone's fault is it? As stupid as it may sound but when a product costs serious money (console games) they get more respect than one that can be downloaded from a P2P network. Even if they perform not as good as. A way to stop piracy for good would help PC gaming more than anything else, at the moment. IMHO.
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 07/03/08 @ 14:55
|
|
0
UL: didn't get it... . Or maybe I didn't explain myself clearly. What I tried to say is ppl (average joe) tend to think a console game is more evolved and it's the "real thing" because you can't just get it for free. Can you imagine a "lauch day" for a PC game for instance with the impact of Halo 3 and possible MGS4 ? It wouldn't have the same hype, because a week before half the PC gamers would be already playing.
IMHO |
|
0
My god, yet again with the piracy!
The shit that is Games for Windows Live is bad for the industry. The bug-ridden games that everybody is releasing (Gears of War, Frontlines: Fuel of War, etc), with DRMs that don't even let you play, are bad for the industry. Stupid declarations like CliffyB's, Molineux's, Taylor's, etc, are bad for the industry. Paying 50 euros for games that cost 30 fucking dollars in the US is bad for the industry (and makes people pirate). Piracy?. It's been there since the beginning, and will be there until they drop prices or follow the model of BF: Heroes. And anything they do to try to stop it only ends hurting their customers. So, yeah, Un-angst my ass. Edit: oh, and why aren't these PR tools talking about piracy in consoles?. It is as bad or worse than piracy on PC, so consoles must be dying, right?.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 07/03/08 @ 16:59
|
|
0
Why let him get off so easy saying that "piracy is a tough issue" on PC? Isnt the issue really that there is so much crap being released that noone wants to buy? And is it fair to consider people a pirate if they download a game illegally and play it for a couple of hours and then delete it because it sucks? Isnt the real pirate the company that makes that kind of "quality"?
I know I theoretically could download most of the new games for free but I honestly dont think there are very many (if any) games worth the effort. On the other hand I bought a couple of games that I haven't even had time to begin playing. I think the real issue with PC games is that there are way way to many substandard products being released. And on top of that gamemakers have to consider what kind of investment of time they demand from their customers. Im not even that impressed with games like WoW which claim they have 10 (?) million subscribers. What kind of percentage is that out of the total number of PCs in the world? Not a very big one I am sure. The way I see it there is an enormous growth potential in both PC and console gamesales if only they start making consistently good addictive games that appeal to casual gamers. |
|
0
"Why let him get off so easy saying that "piracy is a tough issue" on PC? Isnt the issue really that there is so much crap being released that noone wants to buy? And is it fair to consider people a pirate if they download a game illegally and play it for a couple of hours and then delete it because it sucks? Isnt the real pirate the company that makes that kind of "quality"? "
That's the excuse a pirate would make. "But I only install it for a couple of hours!! Honest!" Yeah right, like we are supposed to believe that. The only one who pirates are fooling with that age old excuse are themselves. |
|
0
"There are 60 million DirectX 10-capable cards out on the market now. If you look at that compared to any of the console installed bases, that's a great number. If there were 60 million Wiis or 60 million 360s out there, no one would question it as a huge opportunity."
You got to love those industry big wigs... It's the sad state of human affairs that these silly word games actually work. |
|
BeachGaara
07/03/08 @ 19:42
0
That interview could have been better.
I would like to have got his opinion on why MS think this most ridiculous of ideas will ever work, epsecially when Steam is doing it better, for free. |
|
0
And the developers aren't fooling themselves when they claim every pirate is a lost sale, or legal customers aren't affected by copy protection, or that even copy protection generally has any positive effect on sales?
The only copy protection in the last year that hasn't annoyed me is Bioshock.... because it actually worked. |
|
0
Just to say the Bioshock DRM didn't work straight off. I installed it on my PC twice. Once under XP to see the graphics and once under Vista to see the improvement. Then I decided to clean out Vista and format, just to get an quick, slim, fast booting install. "Surprise! You can't play this game!". I should have a right to install a game as many times as I want on as many PCs that I own as I want.
|
|
0
"tend to think a console game is more evolved and it's the "real thing" because you can't just get it for free."
What a lot of crap. Miiguel you want to know one of the contributing factors that made the PS1 and 2 such big sellers? Piracy. Anyway it's threads like these that are putting me off EG lately. Time to try some of those sites suggested to me in the forums. |
|
smoothn00dle
08/03/08 @ 09:50
0
PC gaming is dead, not because PC games suck. It is because consoles just getting a lot better. Despite PC claimed technical superiority, even Wii outsold PC gaming.
|
|
0
The GfW initiative is something I really like the idea of. A set of standards (if adhered to) for the majority of PC games releases brings a level of uniformity and balance to the PC gaming sector that consoles have enjoyed from year dot. And support for the 360 pad (a dual format version of which I bought recently for using on the PC and 360) is a welcome move, because games like Tomb Raider: Anniversary work far better on PC with a 360 pad IMO.
However, if the initiative is to succeed then there has to be guaranteed working games. Gears of War for Windows takes nearly an hour to install, and even after that, the Live portion of the game doesn't work very well at all. A complete disappointment when compared to the relatively smooth running Live enjoys on Xbox 360 - it just works (recent Xmas troubles aside). |
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
