Microsoft and PC Gaming
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"Moving ahead, Microsoft will continue to invest in Windows as a first class gaming platform through great Windows out of box experiences, our online gaming services including Games for Windows LIVE, MSN Games, and Messenger games, and through new games for Windows developed by Microsoft Games Studios," said a rep for the company in a statement to Edge.Right on the tail of that, they've published an editorial on Microsoft and the PC.
Microsoft Game Studios' stable includes Turn 10 (Forza), Lionhead (Fable) and Rare (Banjo).
In recent years, Microsoft has closed multiple internal studios, many with a PC focus, including FASA Interactive (Mechwarrior, Shadowrun) and most recently, Ensemble (Age of Empires) and Aces (Flight Sim).
Meanwhile, the few remaining Microsoft Game Studios are now decidedly focused on Xbox 360 development. Strange that the company that has the PC OS market cornered doesn't appear to have found a synergy with PC game development. Microsoft didn't even mention PC gaming during its recent Consumer Electronics Show presentation, where Windows 7 took the spotlight; Xbox 360 on the other hand enjoyed a nice chunk of attention.
The company insists that (new games for Windows [will be] developed by Microsoft Games Studios.) The question is, which Microsoft Game Studios will continue to develop PC games? Lionhead, which hit it big with the Xbox 360 exclusive Fable II? Turn 10, the Forza developer that has yet to release a game for PC? Rare, whose latest game was Banjo-Kazooie for Xbox 360?
It's easy to criticize Microsoft in its approach to PC games, but can we really blame the company for tempering support for the platform? If you take a snapshot of the current business, Microsoft is right to make these changes. The firm was upfront with media about its reasoning behind Ensemble's closure, saying shuttering the studio would help "keep MGS on its growth path" and that the decision was purely fiscal. One can assume that, particularly with the current state of the economy, the reasoning behind the recent Aces axing was along the same lines; it was probably an easy decision to make if only taking the bottom line into consideration. Why negate the successes of the console business when you can close down a few PC studios and Joe Halo the real money-spender wouldn't know the difference?
