Vapourware Microsoft want to get into PC gaming again

[Charles Eli Cheese]

You agree with someone who said that Valve doesn't have a sales monopoly because you can buy Steam keys from different stores.

It's like saying that Coca Cola has no beverage monopoly because every poor ass sells it.

It's kind of retarded to have different prices for same source, mostly this is of no value to either the game maker or the consumer. And it's still basically a de facto monopoly though because steam gets a set cut any way you slice it, and they can refuse games as well, though this is just an issue for the lower end of the budget range.

You realize that what you're telling me is that Steam is such a monopoly that Valve can afford wholesale operations in addition to retail. Have you ever worked in the real world? Steam is the equivalent of Coca Cola, Nestle and similar virtual monopolies. They are so big that additional retailers simply allow them to close market coverage gaps, there isn't any competition if the money always end up in a single pocket.

You've both made a pretty fundamental mistake here, thinking that every Steam key is backed by a cut for Valve. In the case you buy and game on eg Humble Store and it's delivered by Steam key Valve gets nothing, 0, zilch, nada.

From Humble's Developer FAQ:

Q: What are the revenue splits?
A: Even though the Humble Store isn't pay-what-you-want we still are very adamant about supporting developers and charities. After deductions for payment processor fees (typically around 5%) the net revenue is split 3 ways: 75% to developers, 10% to charity and 15% to Humble Bundle to cover costs associated with hosting the content.

What assets do we need from you?

• DRM-free build(s) (if available)
• 10,000+ Steam keys

Where do the keys come from? As a developer you can generate as many as you like for no cost. Valve hosts and distributes the games pro bono, probably taking a very small loss on bandwidth for very large games. Of course they gain a lot too, from ecosystem and network benefits etc. so it's not pure benevolence, just pointing out that your assumptions are quite faulty here

Humble bundle is pure shit though. Developers make zero off that shit and it is a fake pseudocharity basically.

You put your game in there when you have milked everything you can get any other way and just do it for the exposure.

 

[hpstg]

Maybe some developer who has Steam keys activated from out-of-Steam purchases, can shed some actual light, because I believe that Valve not getting a dime (not even data storage/bandwidth expenses), sounds completely off.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Maybe some developer who has Steam keys activated from out-of-Steam purchases, can shed some actual light, because I believe that Valve not getting a dime (not even data storage/bandwidth expenses), sounds completely off.

From the horse's own mouth:

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/retailsupport.php

Steamworks has a host of features and services that support your retail product and any digital copies, wherever they are sold. It’s free. There is no per-copy activation charge or bandwidth fee.

I can see why you're surprised though, it's a very generous model. One of the benefits of being privately owned, I suppose.

 

[Jigawatt]

Humble bundle is pure shit though. Developers make zero off that shit and it is a fake pseudocharity basically.

You put your game in there when you have milked everything you can get any other way and just do it for the exposure.

That may be, though I was talking about the Humble Store as distinct from bundles as an example of the broader situation shown by Cowboy Moment above.

 

[Charles Eli Cheese]

Humble bundle is pure shit though. Developers make zero off that shit and it is a fake pseudocharity basically.

You put your game in there when you have milked everything you can get any other way and just do it for the exposure.

That may be, though I was talking about the Humble Store as distinct from bundles as an example of the broader situation shown by Cowboy Moment above.

Read what it says. Humble Store is a charity..10% anyway lol, which is a crock.

Steam doesn't let developers just host their shit on steam without paying anything, this is a special arrangement because it's a "charity". Normally if you want something on steam it's 30%, maybe this is flexible but it's not zero.

 

[Jigawatt]

I know you're a troll and thus must be combative, but now you're just embarrassing yourself. A direct contradiction from Valve is only two posts above

 

[Spectacle]

Gaben is in it for the long term. By letting other vendors sell steam keys at no cost he protects himself from being hit with lawsuits for monopoly abuse and anticompetitive behaviour. At the same time this arrangement makes it very difficult for any genuine competitors to thirve, since most competing digital stores and even physical retail are really just funneling customers into Gaben's store.
Steam has become "the place where I get and keep my games" in the minds of a lot of consumers, and that kind of position is worth a lot more than a small cut of some discounted game sales.

 

[adrix89]

If UWP is so good at sandboxing then it means Microsoft is completely retarded.
They cannot even sell what could be a huge game changer for MMORPGs and Multiplayer games in general.
That means they are basically unhackable and might even break one of the long running rules of computing which is "don't trust the client".

 

[hpstg]

From the horse's own mouth:

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/retailsupport.php



I can see why you're surprised though, it's a very generous model. One of the benefits of being privately owned, I suppose.

There it says that they support both retail and purely digital, but it doesn't talk about pricing. Let me explain. Let's say I make Shit Adventure 2, and I decide it's a Steamworks title that can also be sold in retail stores through my partnership with Publisher A. Since the retail copies will be activated, patched and maintained through Steam, I am sure that I pay something for these services.

The page you link doesn't refer to any kind of pricing structure for titles like that, just that they are supported. Which they are, since a ton of titles is being sold in retail and activated through Steam.

This is the reason we need someone who has actually had dealings from the developer side to talk about this. There was a thread on Reddit about G2A sometime ago, and I remember a developer saying that G2A harms them doubly because the stolen keys incur Valve fees when used, even if they don't get anything out of them. It's been a while and I might be wrong though.

 

[moraes]

Let's say I make Shit Adventure 2, and I decide it's a Steamworks title that can also be sold in retail stores through my partnership with Publisher A. Since the retail copies will be activated, patched and maintained through Steam, I am sure that I pay something for these services.

It’s free: There’s no charge for bandwidth, updating, or activation of copies at retail or from third-party digital distributors.

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/index.php

 

[Astral Rag]

Deck-based beat ’em up Phantom Dust out now free
By Adam Smith on May 16th, 2017 at 11:57 pm

Phantom Dust is one of those games that lots of people talk about but nobody I know actually bought back in the day. Originally released for the Xbox None in 2004, it’s a 3D fighting game set in destructible environments. The twist is that all of your character’s abilities are determined by a deck of cards, so you can switch in new attacks, blocks and specials when you earn/buy new cards.

Today Microsoft re-released it free on both Windows 10 and Xbox One, with cards available as microtransactions. You can, I believe, unlock every card in the game by playing. Here’s a video from Microsoft explaining how it works.



PowerHearthStone. That’s what I’m calling it.

I like the look of it, especially if the singleplayer campaign can make me consider my own lonely life in the way the Microsoft man suggests it might. I’m not writing about it because I like the look of it though – I’m writing about it because I told Alice I’d played it so she asked me to say a few words. And I wrote this: “A guy who lived down the corridor at uni had it and it was the best reason to talk to him.” I should add that the person question was a good friend and I wasn’t being entirely serious. I really liked Phantom Dust though.

Except, no I didn’t because I’ve never played Phantom Dust. I’ve thought I had for years but I was actually confusing it with a different obscure collectible card game from around the same period, but on a different console. I thought Phantom Dust was Culdcept.

Now, it turns out that Phantom Dust actually looks more interesting than Culdcept so I’m happy to swap out one cult favourite card game for another, but what an odd thing it is to realise I’ve been wrong all these years.

Anyhow, you can download Phantom Dust over at the Win 10 store.

 

[Great Deceiver]

That someone would actually confuse Phantom Dust with Culdcept is quite telling about the quality of these 'journalists'.

Anyway, I'm downloading it now. Windows store is utter shit.

 

[pakoito]

I've always wanted to play that game, this is so disappointing

 

[Astral Rag]

I just think it's amazing that they've decided to add MT to a decade old game. Don't think that has been done before?

edit: I had forgotten about this:

 

[Astral Rag]

 

[Great Deceiver]

It's an interesting game - it was actually designed by Panzer Dragoon creator Yukio Futatsugi. It's kind of a bummer that it's locked to 30fps, but whatever.

 

[Mynon]

One of those cult titles that I though I'll never play, what with the lack of functional Xbox emulator. So, these are good news, in spite of that typical Microsoftian crap.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

It's propably best original Xbox ex and it still looks good so...

 

[Atlantico]

Worth a try, if it's even a half-decent jrpg-like thing. Who knows, maybe it's better than it looks.

Don't care about it being a Windows 10 store exclusive, I already installed Steam, Origin, Uplay and Galaxy.

 

[set]

It's an interesting game - it was actually designed by Panzer Dragoon creator Yukio Futatsugi. It's kind of a bummer that it's locked to 30fps, but whatever.

That minimap. ROFL

 

[Great Deceiver]

Worth a try, if it's even a half-decent jrpg-like thing. Who knows, maybe it's better than it looks.

Don't care about it being a Windows 10 store exclusive, I already installed Steam, Origin, Uplay and Galaxy.

It's not a JRPG. It's a third person duel-like (realtime action) game where your abilities are governed by a deck - the deck determines which abilities can spawn on your side of the battlefield, they spawn randomly though.

The levels are fully destructible and the abilities themselves are pretty cool. It's a unique game that would have been pretty successful if it had been released a few years later.

 

[LESS T_T]

http://www.pcgamer.com/phil-spencer...s-compatibility-and-xbox-play-anywhere-to-pc/

Phil Spencer wants to bring OG Xbox emulation and Xbox Game Pass to PC
They're not announced for PC yet, but the big boss wants to make it happen.

One of Microsoft's big announcements at its E3 press conference this year was support for Xbox backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. Not Xbox 360 backwards compatibility, which has been around for some time: OG Xbox backwards compatibility, starting with beloved air combat game Crimson Skies. Naturally, when we talked with Xbox chief Phil Spencer today, we asked if we might see that emulation make its way to the PC in the future. His one-word answer?

"Yes."

Straight to the point. Exciting! But also: we wanted more. Thankfully, after letting that affirmative hang in the air for a few moments, Spencer elaborated.

"I want people to be able to play games!" he said. "[Emulation] is hard. [Xbox] 360 specifically is a PowerPC chip, emulated to x86, which is difficult. It's a little bit easier when you have a fixed spec, when you think about Xbox, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X. And you think of the variable specs of the PC space, so you're taking a fixed-spec PowerPC emulator and then moving it over to run on PC, so there's a lot of work there.

"The original Xbox, OG Xbox, is a little bit easier, because that was an x86 chip it was running on. Obviously when we think about UWP and the ability for games to run across console and PC, we're getting closer. I want developers to be able to build portable applications, which is why we've been focusing on UWP for games and even apps that want to run on multiple devices.

"So I think we've got work to go do there, but I think it's in our future."

We also asked Spencer about the Xbox Game Pass, a $10 monthly subscription that grants access to a library of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. Given Microsoft's increased PC focus, could we see the Game Pass on PC, too?

"I've said I want to bring Game Pass to the PC. The team doesn't love it when I pre-announce things, but I definitely want to bring Game Pass to PC," Spencer said.

"It's a business model that I think could be good for creators, and when business models work for creators, it usually means good content will come for gamers. I like that. We don't have the deep catalog of games on PC that we do on console, so I've had some pushback from the marketing team that, well it wouldn't necessarily be the best feature right now, because we won't have enough games, but I just want to start. So I'm putting a lot of pressure on the team to go get enough content lined up to do something on the PC, and then make sure we have a long-term commitment to build."

Spencer had more to say about developing games for PC, the return to Age of Empires, and what Microsoft still needs to do to improve the Windows Store and UWP. Check back soon for our full interview.

 

[hellbent]

If MS treats backward compatibility on the XBOX ONE X like it has so far on the XB1, we can expect nothing but the finest vintage shovelware like Sneak King and the occasional MS exclusive titles like Fable to be the only playable OG Xbox games.

 

[pakoito]

If MS treats backward compatibility on the XBOX ONE X like it has so far on the XB1, we can expect nothing but the finest vintage shovelware like Sneak King and the occasional MS exclusive titles like Fable to be the only playable OG Xbox games.

I'd say Phantom Dust, but they already remade it with micropayments. There was that party game that was decent, the platform game with rewind mechanics, and STUBBS THE ZOMBIE.

 

[hellbent]

If MS treats backward compatibility on the XBOX ONE X like it has so far on the XB1, we can expect nothing but the finest vintage shovelware like Sneak King and the occasional MS exclusive titles like Fable to be the only playable OG Xbox games.

I'd say Phantom Dust, but they already remade it with micropayments. There was that party game that was decent, the platform game with rewind mechanics, and STUBS THE ZOMBIE.

Yes indeed, Stubs the Zombie would be very high on their priority list. I also recall the terrible PC port of that monstrosity well.