Microsoft's support for PC gaming -- particularly its first-party development efforts -- has been inconsistent over the years, but the company is once again planning to make its presence known on the platform, according to Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer.
After admitting to Shacknews that the company's level of support for the platform has waned, Spencer described Windows as now being "incredibly important." He pointed to the 'One Microsoft' initiative -- the outcome of the company's extensive realignment earlier this year -- as being part of the reason for Microsoft seeking to avoid being hyper focused on consoles at the expense of its other platforms. What that means is more PC games coming from Microsoft; in fact, Spencer claims that, right now, there are "more individual projects on Windows than we've had in ten years at Microsoft Studios."
Those aren't just casual games, either, as he said, "At the launch of Windows 8, we had about 30 games in the Windows Store. A lot of those you'd consider lightweight or casual games... But we've covered all of that property now. Now we're starting to look at bigger and core gamer things. I'm excited by that."
Without making any specific announcements, Spencer talked about leveraging Xbox Live across PCs, consoles, and phones. Referencing services like Netflix and Spotify that work across multiple devices, Spencer said, "For some games, it will be similar. I just want to have an Xbox Live account and it works on my phone, on my console, and my Windows machine. And then I'll be able to access my content in a screen-appropriate way." Cross-platform play between PC and Xbox One is something Microsoft has said makes sense.
This is far from the first time Microsoft has claimed it would renew its support of PC gaming. In the past, that's led to mixed results. With the release of Windows Vista in 2006, Microsoft offered new features for games, and the following year it brought Halo 2 to PC -- a release marred not only by being more than two years old at that point and requiring Vista, but also by using Games for Windows Live which, at the time, cost $49.99 per year. The strength of PC gaming was touted by Microsoft in 2008, and more reassurances of PC gaming support from the company came in 2010. That resulted in a PC version of Fable III, as well as the development of Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight, two games which have since ceased development.
More recently, Microsoft announced it would be shutting down the Games for Windows Live Marketplace and Games for Windows Live itself -- moves that were welcomed by many PC gamers who had become frustrated with how vastly inferior Live is when compared with Steam.
Earlier this year, a Microsoft insider suggested that Microsoft should refocus its efforts on PC. Since then, former Steam boss Jason Holtman joined Microsoft and a report claimed Microsoft was developing a cloud gaming service -- something which, as a demonstration of Halo 4 being streamed to a PC demonstrated, could be part of an effort to make a push in the PC gaming space. PC, it should be noted, is one of the three platforms Titanfall (while not a first-party game) will be released on alongside Xbox One and Xbox 360.
If Microsoft is intent on making PC a higher priority than it has been in recent years, what would you like to see it do? Let us know in the comments.
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