Incline Microsoft shutting down GFWL - removed from Batman:AA/AC, Bioshock 2, Dawn of War 2 and Dark Souls

[Infinitron]

Bioshock 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, two GFWL games available on Steam, have recently gotten Steam Achievements, and if you right-click and select their "Properties" in Steam, you'll see that they have a new "Betas" tab. Obviously, these two games are in the process of removing GFWL.

Could this mean that Microsoft is going to shut down GFWL with the release of the new XBox? Please, let it be so!

 

[DragoFireheart]

wtf is GFWL?

 

[Infinitron]

wtf is GFWL?

Games for Windows Live, Microsoft's god awful digital distribution system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Games_for_Windows_–_Live_titles

 

[Regvard]

I thougt that shit was closed back in 2010 or something.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Yes, MS already announced some time ago GfWL will be discontinued.

 

[DragoFireheart]

wtf is GFWL?

Games for Windows Live, Microsoft's god awful digital distribution system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Games_for_Windows_–_Live_titles

I wish I never asked.

 

[Infinitron]

Yes, MS already announced some time ago GfWL will be discontinued.

Where?

Also, what about Fallout 3? Fucking Bethesda better give out Steam codes for the DLC.

 

[toroid]

I wonder what this will mean for Dark Souls PTDE multiplayer. Those guys are gonna be pissed. It's been out for less than a year.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Also, what about Fallout 3? Fucking Bethesda better give out Steam codes for the DLC.

Do you really want that Alien spaceshit DLC?

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Yes, MS already announced some time ago GfWL will be discontinued.

Where?

Also, what about Fallout 3? Fucking Bethesda better give out Steam codes for the DLC.

Okay, I got that wrong. It won't be discontinued (for now), but MS is no longer pushing it.

 

[Night Goat]

Oh god, I had forgotten about GFWL until just now. I remember playing Dawn of War II, having to deal with GFWL's bullshit in addition to Steam's bullshit. It was a fucking nightmare.

 

[DalekFlay]

Also, what about Fallout 3? Fucking Bethesda better give out Steam codes for the DLC.

The Fallout 3 DLC from GFWL is DRM free. Just download it and back it up.

 

[Necroscope]

GFWL is such shit it's annoying even on TPB editions.

 

[Metro]

GFWL was never required to run FO3 or any DLC. As far as the Batman games GFWL is nothing compared to the SecuRom it also has.

 

[Mangoose]

GFWL was never required to run FO3 or any DLC. As far as the Batman games GFWL is nothing compared to the SecuRom it also has.

Yeah, except for the fact that Arkham Asylum has recently been unplayable (for just the past few months) because of GFWL bullshit.

 

[Infinitron]

GFWL was never required to run FO3 or any DLC. As far as the Batman games GFWL is nothing compared to the SecuRom it also has.

Required to run? No. Required to buy, download and install if you didn't buy the game on Steam? Welp.

 

[Metro]

Who wouldn't buy the game on Steam? 'da fuck is wrong with you?

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Oh god, I had forgotten about GFWL until just now. I remember playing Dawn of War II, having to deal with GFWL's bullshit in addition to Steam's bullshit. It was a fucking nightmare.

When I aquired it legally some time back, I had to make a GFWL acc to play. At that time they had streamlined the account creation to the point where you didn't even have to make a nickname, it automatically assigned you one I think mine was AvengingAxe227 or something. That shit is some of the most dysfunctional crap I've ever seen.

 

[DalekFlay]

I've always used offline profiles and never had a problem. Only time I ever signed in to a GFWL acccount was to buy the Fallout DLC.

Most people don't even realize you can use offline profiles with GFWL.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

In one half-crazed moment of Steam purchases, I got Bioshock 2 for a buck or two. Turns out it requires a GFWL account just so you can SAVE your progress, and while I played the game for a few hours, I haven't touched the game since I tried it out. I have never played any other game that has required anything to do with GFWL, so it came as a small surprise to me that I was being forced to sign up to something I didn't want.

 

[IDtenT]

It's pretty clear that everything games are moving over the XBox brand. Expect some XBox thing replacing GFWL - which is probably going to be the XBox part of MS app store.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

Please let this be true. Although they're probably planning some sort of nefarious Windows 8 / xbone integration games thing.

 

[DalekFlay]

In one half-crazed moment of Steam purchases, I got Bioshock 2 for a buck or two. Turns out it requires a GFWL account just so you can SAVE your progress, and while I played the game for a few hours, I haven't touched the game since I tried it out. I have never played any other game that has required anything to do with GFWL, so it came as a small surprise to me that I was being forced to sign up to something I didn't want.

You have to make a profile to save, but it can be a random bullshit local offline profile with no information attached to it.

 

[Gurkog]

Games for Windows will evolve into Games for Windows 8 and requires all future PC ports of Xbox games to only play on Windows 8. This will happen as a service to customers . Nobody can fully enjoy games without paying M$ for the privilege of having their experiences monitored and regulated.

An advertisement to publishers: "M$, making sure customers are thoroughly raped so you don't have to. "

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=619976

Little caveat before I dive into the thread, the removal of GFWL and Securom is speculation on my part. I will get into the evidence surrounding this removal later in the thread.

I have been discussing this in the Steam thread for quite awhile, but figured it was time to bring this to the attention of GAF as a whole. Let people know this is going to happen, and open it up for discussion.

Achievements

Both Arkham Asylum and Bioshock 2 added Steam Achievements to the client a few months ago, but have not activated them as of yet.
Arkham City has had Steam Achievements since release, but was not a Steamworks game. They layered GFWL and Securom on top of that.

Its important to note that the Steam Achievements reference Minerva's Den, so they will either be adding it to the Steam Store or adding it to the base game free of charge.
Right now you can't purchase Minerva's Den through Steam. You have to go to the Xbox store, add in Microsoft points, and purchase from the GFWL store.



Registry Updates

All three games began seeing updates about a month ago. They began very slowly, but the past couple weeks both AC and Bioshock 2 are seeing multiple updates a day.
It is possible they are trying to coincide the rerelease with the Steam Summer Sale.

There are two separate beta builds for the Bioshock 2 entry. One for the singleplayer game, and one for the multiplayer game, labeled Digital Extremes as that studio did the multiplayer for Bioshock 2.
I sent them an email inquiring about the changes and they seemed to have no idea what was going on.


DRM

The removal of GFWL and Securom is pure speculation on my part.
Moving away from GFWL actually has some evidence, though circumstantial. The removal of Securom is just wishful thinking.

GFWL is on its way out. Very few games this year have been published with the DRM, and the major Publishers that have been holding out, WB, Namco, and Capcom, have all dropped the service for their future titles.
Even Microsoft has stopped publishing games with the service. Mark of the Ninja, Dust: An Elysian Tail, AoE II HD, Halo Trilogy, Deadlight, etc.
There has been one exception, but that was because the port was ready for a long time and just waiting to be released.

Halo 2 GFWL multiplayer support will shut down in the near future. Along with Halo 3, there have been Steam rumors floating around for both titles.
GFWL will likely be dropped in favor of dedicated servers and Steamworks. It is cheaper for Microsoft to let the community worry about server upkeep.

Originally Posted by Grief.exe

UPDATE

Minerva's Den DLC has been added to the Registry. Two forms are going to be available for purchase, standalone and in a pack with Bioshock 2.