Gabe Newell calls Windows 8 "A catastrophe", comments on touch, linux and closed/open systems

This is a little older news:

“In order for innovation to happen, a bunch of things that aren’t happening on closed platforms need to occur. Valve wouldn’t exist today without the PC, or Epic, or Zynga, or Google. They all wouldn’t have existed without the openness of the platform. There’s a strong tempation to close the platform, because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors’ access to the platform, and they say ‘That’s really exciting.’”

“We are looking at the platform and saying, ‘We’ve been a free rider, and we’ve been able to benefit from everything that went into PCs and the Internet, and we have to continue to figure out how there will be open platforms.’”
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“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.

Source

I can't help but agree, I think the new Windows will spell doom for next gen gaming.

Note to mods : If you think fit, please merge this thread to the Linux on Steam thread.

Why? A touch OS will never destroy PC market, like iOS and MacOS, they will exist side by side, windows 8 does not have any effect on pc gaming afaik.

I hope I can convince my friends to switch to Linux once steam comes over.

tkin said:
Why? A touch OS will never destroy PC market, like iOS and MacOS, they will exist side by side, windows 8 does not have any effect on pc gaming afaik.

Windows Store.
AFAIK Microsoft want a 30% cut for adding games to their store, which is bad for pricing and steam.

So they won't add games to the store, its not like people will suddenly go dumb and buy stuff only from MS store, there is steam and steam should not list games in MS Store, origin etc.

Ms Store wont be affecting Steam. I dont like the whole Metro UI concept on pc

Who gives a dang about metro ui? The metro ui is only troublesome on desktop, its fine in apps I think.

tkin said:
So they won't add games to the store, its not like people will suddenly go dumb and buy stuff only from MS store, there is steam and steam should not list games in MS Store, origin etc.

I was just stating what Newell said

Newell’s concern: That Windows 8 is a platform-closer, by which he means Microsoft’s forthcoming “Windows Store.” Windows Store is essentially Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s App Store — a digital distribution platform for both paid and free applications that support Windows 8′s tile-like “Metro” interface. The kicker: Metro-enabled apps will only be allowed over Windows 8′s guardrails by going through the Windows Store itself. And like Apple, Microsoft intends to take a 30% cut of any sales made through the store.

Read more: Is Windows 8 Really a ‘Catastrophe’ for Content Creators? | Techland | TIME.com

Re: Gabe Newell calls Windows 8 "A catastrophe", comments on touch, linux and closed/open systems

^^ So that settles it, games won't be metro enabled, and free apps developers won't have to pay any fee.

Also I read this:

But a few points in Windows Store’s favor: The 30% cut drops to 20% once the applications exceeds $25,000 in revenue, and Microsoft doesn’t take anything from third-party transactions.

And finally this:

What’s more, you only have to enter Windows 8 through Windows Store’s gates if you’re designing a Metro-interface application. If your app isn’t Metro-enabled, you can bypass those gates entirely. So say Valve releases a Metro-enabled version of Steam — a freely downloadable app today — to distribute through the Windows Store. It benefits from any exposure, especially if it’s a popular download and consistently ranking in Windows Store’s charts.

Newell cries too much.

Plus read the comments.

and...Notch (Minecraft) and John Carmack join the Windows8 hate bandwagon. I'm merely a gamer, so I'm still not sure how bad they think it is, but hey, those guys are geniuses, so cant argue against it.

cyborg47 said:
and...Notch (Minecraft) and John Carmack join the Windows8 hate bandwagon. I'm merely a gamer, so I'm still not sure how bad they think it is, but hey, those guys are geniuses, so cant argue against it.

They all seem to be afraid of one simple thing, one very simple thing.

Common users, they will just log into windows app store and download apps, to stay competitive these devs have to have a app available at the app store, which means they will lose revenues as ms takes a cut, smart move by microsoft, but again android, ios, mac all use this approach, so can't blame ms. But surprisingly game distros won't hurt, cause origin, steam etc will give the app free, and conduct third party transactions as people buys games through the clients, indie devs like minecraft will hurt as they sometimes sell the game directly thorough the web.

It might just be a disillusionment on Newell's part, but the Source engine does perform faster on Linux/OpenGL then it does on Windows/DirectX. Indeed giving up Windows would be like selling away your best milk cow, so Newell would not be that stupid to give up Windows entirely. Though he would try to wean gamers away IMHO.

Valve: OpenGL is faster than DirectX — even on Windows | ExtremeTech

Won't work, as long as 90% game engines run on DX and also x360 uses DX framework OpenGL will never succeed, its a dream that will never come true.

I think it will be possible to run DirectX games in linux using SDL.

^^ Won't support complex calls, also lots of over head, better to build games with OpenGL grounds up.

DeSmOnD dAvId said:
I think it will be possible to run DirectX games in linux using SDL.

Not at all lol.

Basing all our gaming (technologies) on Microsoft's platform (Windows/DirectX) was a catastrophe itself, and supporting an open platform would be the first step to move away from this blunder.

Not sure about the other games, but Source engine seems to perform much better on Linux than on Windows..
source - Faster Zombies! | Valve

If games comes to linux then I'll stop using windows.

^^ Never gonna happen, if any dev stops developing for Win for linux, he will lose market, plus microsoft may beat them on Xbox licensing cost, MS owns two major gaming platforms, no one pisses them off.

Since Steam is clearly cross platform .. people will never buy Games from MS App Store due to the OS lockdown ..

Also many small/indie game devs have complained that Microsoft charges a lot of money from them to upgrade/patch their games distributed through XBOX live where as Valve gives devs this facility for free.. (as it should be)

Even if any app is made available on the app store .. it will rarely be an exclusive and other means of purchase and install will always be there.. If MS is planning a lockdown of its OS then it will have another Anti-Competitive lawsuit crush its tezticles..