Blizzard joins Valve in panning Microsoft's Windows 8

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
An executive at Blizzard, the developer of hit games like "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo III," has joined in to deride Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Rob Pardo, Blizzard's executive vice president of game design, posted a comment on Twitter this week, highlighted by CVG, in which he said Windows 8 is "not awesome" for his company. Pardo's take was offered in agreement with Valve founder Gabe Newell, who made headlines this week when he predicted Windows 8 will be a "catastrophe."

Both Blizzard and Valve are in unique positions in the gaming world, as each developer offers customers the ability to directly purchase their titles over the Internet. Valve's Steam is a a full game store with its own titles and games from other publishers, while Blizzard's Battle.net offers paid downloads of its own titles, including "Diablo III" and monthly subscriptions to the massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft."

Microsoft will be making its own major push in the digital storefront space with the launch of Windows 8. The Windows 8 Store will allow developers to sell their applications, which can be priced from $1.49 to $999.99 and will come with free seven-day trial periods.

Both Valve and Blizzard develop games for Apple's OS X platform, as well as Microsoft's Windows. Neither company, however, sells their titles on Apple's Mac App Store.

Diablo III
Blizzard's "Diablo III" launched on Mac earlier this year.


Both developers now release new game titles on the same day for both Mac and PC. Last year Valve debuted "Portal 2" on the Mac and this year Blizzard launched "Diablo III," while Valve will bring "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" to OS X on Aug. 21, and Blizzard announced this week that the new "World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria" expansion will come to the Mac on Sept. 25.

Valve plans to hedge its bets by developing games for Linux as well as Windows and Mac. Newell said this week he thinks some of the top-tier PC makers will exit the market because "margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 56
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Windows 8:

    Not for the horde!!!
  • Reply 2 of 56
    howiehowie Posts: 68member


    Wow, that's quite a prediction. Practically overnight some 40+% of the computer operating system market is going to shift to Linux so they can play Blizzard and Valve games!


     


    Good luck with that business plan, Pardo.

  • Reply 3 of 56
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member


    Eh. Functionally, Windows 8 is fine, and even has some nice new features versus 7. It's also been very stable right from the get go, so no complaints there. Metro is the real issue here, and MS needs to realize that what is probably good for a touch interface is cumbersome shit with a mouse and keyboard. I understand they are going for cross platform parity and functionality, much like Apple with their Mountain Lion and iOS 6, but I have the sneaking suspicion that Service Pack 1 will allow users to ditch Metro in favor of the classic Start Button layout they are familiar and comfortable with.


     


    I won't be upgrading this cycle, because 7 is doing great for me right now, and the new functionality of 8 isn't worth even the reduced price to upgrade.


     


    All this being said, however, I'd hardly call 8 a potential catastrophe. It might not be a record breaker like 7, but it's far from the complete disaster hat was Me. Apple survived Lion, MS survived Vista, and so it will Windows 8. 

  • Reply 4 of 56
    scruffyscruffy Posts: 23member


    Yeah, what isn't clear from either of these statements is exactly what is it about Windows 8 that's such a disaster? I mean maybe Metro sucks, but what's that got to do with gaming..?


     


    From what I can see, nothing in particular will change from Blizzard and Valve's points of view...


     


    What am I missing here?

  • Reply 5 of 56
    kkerstkkerst Posts: 330member


    I agree with you completely. I've always thought, as have most people in the industry, that MS should just ditch Metro all together for Win8. Opposite is true for WinRT. Why the freak can you get to the Win 8 desktop in RT? That's just stupid. They can have similar underpinnings, but they are two different platforms that cannot be shoved down everyone's throat. It's a mess. 


     


    BTW - Lion wasn't a mess, quite stable actually and not that much different than ML. I don't hear any body still b!tching about the natural/unnatural scrolling anymore. People just like to b!tch about something. They don't like change. Change is good, as long as it's executed well and for good reason. But MS's efforts is just change for change's sake. 

  • Reply 6 of 56
    realwarderrealwarder Posts: 136member


    As the article says, it's hardly surprising these companies are not happy with Windows 8, as the application store will drive people to buy products from that instead of direct from Value/Blizzard.  But that will take a long time to change anything.


     


    For the Windows world, I'm sure it's far from the end of the world... I've briefly used the CP in a VM and it appears to work as well as Windows 7.  Only annoying thing was the lack of the start button.


     


    For touch screen devices, Windows 8 will change the Windows world.  For all other users, I'm sure they'll appreciate the performance enhancements and new features (Time Machine like backup etc.) and learn to live with Metro.

  • Reply 7 of 56
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member


    Maybe I am the only one, but somehow it's not that much fun to make fun of Microsoft any more.


     


    It's like making fun of RIMM or Nokia..... :-/

  • Reply 8 of 56


    Are these game makers lazy? So they can't sell their products on a Microsoft or Apple store and earn the same amount of profit. As long as they can get their games directly to people via the internet then they have no problem. They just need to advertise more and direct people to their web sites to make the sales. Thousands of other companies are doing that all the time.


     


    The quotations that I've read had nothing to do with the functionality of the Windows 8 platform. This is just sensationalism aimed at Microsoft in a sideways attack. Believe me when I say this that I hate Microsoft after Vista. Still if I'm going to read about how Windows 8 is going to be a catastrophe, it really should be about the OS, not some game companies inability to do good marketing and maintain profit levels.

     

  • Reply 9 of 56
    uguysrnutsuguysrnuts Posts: 459member
    Being in the IT support business since early 1990s, I still remember how every iteration of Windows sucked so bad before XP. Then Vista happened.

    Hopefully, the Windows 8/Metro monster combo's level of suckiness would be minimal.
  • Reply 10 of 56
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Maybe I am the only one, but somehow it's not that much fun to make fun of Microsoft any more.


     


    It's like making fun of RIMM or Nokia..... :-/



     


    From their stock's perspective, they have been a zombie company for more than a decade. They still make a lot of money defending their traditional turf. They will not disappear tomorrow, in other words.

  • Reply 11 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Scruffy View Post


    Yeah, what isn't clear from either of these statements is exactly what is it about Windows 8 that's such a disaster? I mean maybe Metro sucks, but what's that got to do with gaming..?


     


    From what I can see, nothing in particular will change from Blizzard and Valve's points of view...


     


    What am I missing here?



    I'm in the same boat as you. Why is Windows 8 a "catastrophe" and "not awesome" for Valve and Blizzard? There have been multiple software storefronts online for years and people have figured out how to get their games. Metro shouldn't affect the user's access or interface with the games themselves. Is there some sort of driver issue? Major file structure change? Permissions or access change? Programming language change? License to develop cost?


     


    What information is not being presented that makes Win8 so terrible? Otherwise, this isn't news, it's just trolls trolling Win8 before it's out.

  • Reply 12 of 56
    uguysrnutsuguysrnuts Posts: 459member
    No one has to make fun of MS. They are what they are with monkeybutt at the helm.

    As for RIM and Nokia...picture Heins and Elop hopping around in close embrace, belting their rendition of "We're singing in the rain".

    Perhaps Ballmer can then burst in with his Elvis wig and crash the party with oh so inappropriate Jets vs. the Shark song.
    Maybe I am the only one, but somehow it's not that much fun to make fun of Microsoft any more.

    It's like making fun of RIMM or Nokia..... :-/
  • Reply 13 of 56
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by silverpraxis View Post


    I'm in the same boat as you. Why is Windows 8 a "catastrophe" and "not awesome" for Valve and Blizzard? There have been multiple software storefronts online for years and people have figured out how to get their games. Metro shouldn't affect the user's access or interface with the games themselves. Is there some sort of driver issue? Major file structure change? Permissions or access change? Programming language change? License to develop cost?


     


    What information is not being presented that makes Win8 so terrible? Otherwise, this isn't news, it's just trolls trolling Win8 before it's out.



     


    I believe they see it as a disaster from their point of view because of MS's transition to an online app store for software delivery.

  • Reply 14 of 56
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    uguysrnuts wrote: »
    No one has to make fun of MS. They are what they are with monkeybutt at the helm.
    As for RIM and Nokia...picture Heins and Elop hopping around in close embrace, belting their rendition of "We're singing in the rain".
    Perhaps Ballmer can then burst in with his Elvis wig and crash the party with oh so inappropriate Jets vs. the Shark song.
    i

    Aww… You told the ending and ruined it for the rest of us!
  • Reply 15 of 56
    uguysrnutsuguysrnuts Posts: 459member
    Aw c'mon...

    with Microsoft, you know there're always sequels!
    i
    Aww… You told the ending and ruined it for the rest of us!
  • Reply 16 of 56
    uguysrnutsuguysrnuts Posts: 459member
    Naaah. They're just riding the promo wave and being attention wh*res.
    I believe they see it as a disaster from their point of view because of MS's transition to an online app store for software delivery.
  • Reply 17 of 56


    Its not like Windows 7 will stop working when 8 comes out. Heck, Blizzard still supports XP and the troubles with Vista didn't hurt either Valve or Blizzard's bottom line.  This is pointless drama though it is good to see the Linux crowd will get more officially supported games.

  • Reply 18 of 56
    Most game devs tend to look at platforms opportunistically, and express their fondness for or dislike for platform based on its market, hardware available, or cost or barriers to entry. I'm not sure these particular opinions about Windows 8 reflects anything other than personal taste.
  • Reply 19 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


     


    I believe they see it as a disaster from their point of view because of MS's transition to an online app store for software delivery.



     I highly doubt MS would only allow software to be installed on PCs from their online app store. Although it would almost be poetic justice to all the anti-Apple people that call Apple a walled garden.

  • Reply 20 of 56


    Is MS forcing them to sell on Windows storefront and take a percentage? Will Window 8 block all other downloads?

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