Steam and MS Rivalry is 'hurting PC industry', according to Gearbox Marketing boss.

[T-6000]

According to Gearbox's Marketing Boss, Microsoft and Valve's "Rivalry" is hurting the PC Industry.

Gearbox has called on Microsoft and Valve to fix the incompatibility between titles purchased via Games For Windows and Steam.

The studio, which is readying PC gaming favourite Duke Nukem Forever for release on the format next year, claims that Steam and Microsoft are "building silos" which ultimately "hurt the PC industry".

"[We] want people to be able to play together and right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam - they can't play together," Gearbox's head of marketing Steve Gibson said at London Games Festival. "If another guy bought it in a retail store, he can't play with the first two guys."

Gibson called on Microsoft and Steam to work out a way where purchasers of their games could play simultaneously.

You can read more here:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=268880

A couple of things he's missing here. First off, I really see no real rivalry between the two. Valve is just doing their thing with their own way of supporting the PC, and it's attracted alot of people to it. On Microsoft's side of things through GFWL, it just seems like a way of gaining a few more bucks from PC Gamers and there hasn't been much of an effort to rival with Steam. At least so far, since Microsoft did "Promise" a renewed focus on the PC and wanting to "Lead the Platform" (though at this point I think it's just a load of hot air). But all in all I really see no real rivalry between the two. And second, Games for Windows Live's Games on Demand service does sell a few Steamworks games and Steam does sell some GFWL enabled titles. So if Duke Nukem Forever is a Steamworks game then they can still sell it through GFWL, and if Duke Nukem Forever is a GFWL title, then it can still be sold through Steam. But on the matter of players with a GFWL version of DNF and players with a a Steamworks version of DNF to be able to play together, it isn't quite that simple. You might as well ask Sony and Microsoft to get XBox 360 players and PS3 Players to be able to play the same multiplatform game together. Gearbox will just have to choose if DNF will be Steamworks or GFWL enabled.

 

[Matorbogl]

I believe this the second time someone from Gearbox has said something silly about Steam.

Wonder what has them all so hurt in the rump about it.

 

[bam23]

Maybe Gearbox should think about not consolizing their PC ports so much before they open their holes.

 

[ríomhaire]

That's like claiming the PSP rivals the DS.

 

[Krynn72]

"[We] want people to be able to play together and right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam - they can't play together," Gearbox's head of marketing Steve Gibson said at London Games Festival. "If another guy bought it in a retail store, he can't play with the first two guys."

Uh... what? What games do this? I've never heard of a single game like this.

 

[Stigmata]

Solution: Maybe don't support both platforms and then complain that both of them are getting support?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I think the world isn't ready for cross platform.

 

[Shakermaker]

Bullshit. Gbx is prolly trying to get a good deal from either Valve of Microsoft.

Also, what bam said.

 

[taviow]

"[We] want people to be able to play together and right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam - they can't play together," Gearbox's head of marketing Steve Gibson said at London Games Festival. "If another guy bought it in a retail store, he can't play with the first two guys."

Uh... what? What games do this? I've never heard of a single game like this.

Yeah, I love it when people don't do their research.

That's just funny.

 

[Paulaner]

Gearbox who?

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Gearbox. Still pissed off at the cut Steam takes from their games but know they can't afford to drop Steam distribution.

The thing is, Steam lets them get their DLC packages out yet afaik there isn't the functionality to ship DLC digitally with their GFW version. You need to go buy retail at retail prices.

I guess after the Valve piggybacking ended there is still bad blood as they see their profit margin cut into. But hey...I'm sure Gearbox can just jump on another IP and ride on the back of that. If only there was a game everyone had been waiting for...

 

[ríomhaire]

Gearbox bitching about Valve or Microsoft/GFWL considering they made their name via Half-Life and Halo. Especially seeing as, as Krynn pointed out, their complaint makes no goddamn sense.

Edit: I just did some Googling and apparently with Borderlands it is segregated between Steam, GFWL and retail (at least according to one forum I read) which makes it the only game I've ever heard of where this happens. People who buy Company of Heroes retail or steam can play each other and you can even have a retail version of CoH and a steam version of the expansion pack working together. If Relic can do it why can't you Gearbox? Seems like a goddamn retarded decision on ye're part.

 

[Bad^Hat]

I have never heard of a Steam title that couldn't be played online with retail copies. Could this, perhaps, be a problem with GFWL? In which case, maybe Microsoft should learn to "play nice" with PC gamers, or maybe Gearbox shouldn't ****ing support them if they're so worried about us poor shmoes.

 

[<RJMC>]

so what caused gearbox to be enemy whit valve?
they made the expansion of half-life1 so what happened?

 

[T-6000]

so what caused gearbox to be enemy whit valve?
they made the expansion of half-life1 so what happened?

That's a good question. For several years now I've got the impression that Gearbox and 3D Relams weren't too thrilled with Valve and Steam. And what's even stranger that despite the distrust of Steam 3D Realms released Prey through Steam and on top of that enabled people who bought the PC retail to activate the game on Steam with their CD key.

 

[Ren.182]

Gearbox bitching about Valve or Microsoft/GFWL considering they made their name via Half-Life and Halo. Especially seeing as, as Krynn pointed out, their complaint makes no goddamn sense.

Edit: I just did some Googling and apparently with Borderlands it is segregated between Steam, GFWL and retail (at least according to one forum I read) which makes it the only game I've ever heard of where this happens. People who buy Company of Heroes retail or steam can play each other and you can even have a retail version of CoH and a steam version of the expansion pack working together. If Relic can do it why can't you Gearbox? Seems like a goddamn retarded decision on ye're part.

Wow if that's true then that's such a retarded decision! It'd make Borderlands the only game I've ever heard of that does this and I see no reasoning for it! Why would you split the players up? Don't all versions use Gamespy anyway? Surely it can't be that hard to have players searching the same lobbies/servers!

I think the problem seems to be lying with Gearbox themselves rather than these distribution channels.

Also, I don't really see any rivalry between Steam and GFWL. GFWL games are on Steam and they work perfectly fine alongside Steam. And if anything Steam has helped the PC gaming industry!

 

[Krynn72]

That's a good question. For several years now I've got the impression that Gearbox and 3D Relams weren't too thrilled with Valve and Steam. And what's even stranger that despite the distrust of Steam 3D Realms released Prey through Steam and on top of that enabled people who bought the PC retail to activate the game on Steam with their CD key.

And whats even more weird is that Gearbox Employees get all of Valve's games for free through some kind of benefit kajigger.

 

[Kyorisu]

right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam - they can't play together," Gearbox's head of marketing Steve Gibson said at London Games Festival. "If another guy bought it in a retail store, he can't play with the first two guys."

1. No. Pure bullshit. Games that don't use GFWL or Steamworks will interoperate just fine with each other. The digital reseller is irrelevant and retail is even more irrelevant.

2. Steamworks and GFWL. Yes they provide networking but that doesn't mean you have to use it. Simple solution DON"T USE THEM for the networking aspect of your game they suck anyway.

Steam has a killer advantage for me over GFWL, that advantage is simply the fact I will never buy a GFWL product. GFWL is a poorly integrated piece of crap that makes simple thing like updates a massive head****.

 

[Avoidist]

Steam has a killer advantage for me over GFWL, that advantage is simply the fact I will never buy a GFWL product. GFWL is a poorly integrated piece of crap that makes simple thing like updates a massive head****.

Pretty much this. For an attack that's pretty clearly pointed squarely at Valve they fail to see how poorly MS has been doing to provide a decent service to the PC.

Also, way to bite the hand that feeds you. Fortunately Valve is so large at this point it's more like a toothless kitten trying to nibble on a fingertip.

 

[VirusType2]

But they are building silos, guys. SILOS

Shouldn't they be building game code? This is just crazy. Maybe they are going to start a war. Are these missile silos or corn silos? Pretty big omission there. I don't know what to think now. Either a war is building up, or they are doing some farming.

 

[T-6000]

Pretty much this. For an attack that's pretty clearly pointed squarely at Valve they fail to see how poorly MS has been doing to provide a decent service to the PC.

Some have felt this way about this recent comment from the Gearbox Marketing Boss' comments. And as much as I tried to view his remarks in an unbiased and objectful light, his comments don't make any sense and it's starting to look like an underhanded attack on Steam. Maybe I'm looking at this too much out of the box, but I really don't see how releasing your game on GFWL and Steam will divide your PC community. At all. If a Steamworks game is released on GFWL, then it'll come with Steam so that way it'll install itself in your PC and you can thus play online against other users through Steam despite getting it through GFWL. A Steamworks game won't work without Steam anyways. Same with a GFWL enable title sold through Steam, the title will come with GFWL that you'll be able to install into your PC. But if you are that much concerned over the division a Steamworks or GFWL enable title will cause then release it without any of those. There are tons of games sold through Steam *without* Steamorks capabilites and there are GFWL titles that have just been released though GFWL Games on Demand that don't incorporate GFWL. Just release Duke Nukem Forever without Steamworks nor GFWL, and have it incorporate it's own system for multiplayer. You can then still release the game through GFWL and Steam without worries of "divisions" upon the playerbase. I don't know much about video game marketing nor about programing and even I know that you won't divide a playerbase if you release your PC title through Steam and GFWL. Being head of Gearbox's marketing team he should realize this.

 

[Barnz]

so what caused gearbox to be enemy whit valve?

stupid post. they still work together. can't say I'm a fan on microsoft's products. they want to have exclusive titles only available on their platform. remember the fallout 3 DLCs? if it wasn't for the money, everyone would go with steam. then again, steam became a monopoly on the market, so I don't like that either. there has to be competition.

 

[Kyorisu]

there has to be competition.

It already exists. Steam and GFWL aren't the only digital download providers for videogames.

 

[Krynn72]

Its just that the rest kinda suck. The closest one to steam is D2D I think, and its miles behind.

 

[Eejit]

Well that's the competition's fault, Valve or GFWL shouldn't handicap themselves.

 

[Krynn72]

Agreed.

 

[T-6000]

Mr. Gibson responded to the article not long ago, and he wanted to "Clarify" that he was referring to a Friends List being cross platform a key component.

indeed, friends lists being cross compatible is a key component.

what i was talking to that press guy in london about was the hope that things would just go towards an open standard (not likely)

cant say i've ever been accused of not knowing how the pc gaming industry works... pretty entertaining to be on the other side of this stuff haha.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409804&page=2

(his responses begins at post #52)

 

[Asknoone]

I'd have thought Gearbox would be far too busy fondling other ip's (in lieu of developing their own, o'course) to open their mouths to actually say something. But here they are, trying. And gurgling. Just like children. Still.

 

[Solaris]

Op4 is Canon

 

[Bad^Hat]

They want... two entirely separate services... to share friends lists? And they think this is tearing apart the gaming community somehow?

Um. Okay.

 

[CyberPitz]

Damn, I've always wanted to chat with all my friends on XYZ service - oh wait, I have MSN/Skype.

 

[Krynn72]

TBH I don't really want to know anybody whose main method of communication with the gaming community is a Live account. They have a bad reputation for a reason.

 

[T-6000]

TBH I don't really want to know anybody whose main method of communication with the gaming community is a Live account. They have a bad reputation for a reason.

I think I know what you mean. I take one good look at the official GFWL forums and many there are pretty hostile. Especially those that are Steam users.

 

[kupocake]

The only aspect of this supposed conflict that is harming the industry is Games for Windows Live. I'm all for competition, but GFWL shouldn't be a competitor.

 

[Matorbogl]

Well that's the competition's fault, Valve or GFWL shouldn't handicap themselves.

Steam derangement syndrome, you see it crop up in comment sections on gaming websites every time a story about Steam, or a game that supports Steamworks is reported on.

Take for example Civilization 5, go to Amazon, find Civ5 and look at the 1-star reviews. Here's another example, go to Rock, Paper, Shotgun and scroll until you find the story about Gearbox and Steam and look at the comments. It's always the same vague threats about monopoly and it being bad for PC gaming but with no explanation really given other than hyperbolic conspiracy theory.