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[Bsigg12]

Gaben's sleeper agent. Doesn't fuck around.

Microsoft has bow been infiltrated by both Sony (Phil Harrison) and Valve with Jason. All their secrets and strategies just getting poured out to competition. /conspiracy

 

[BlackBuzzard]

Obviously he must have been......the Cboat!!!

Dun, dun, dun

So it was Ekim all along.

 

[GDJustin]

No doubt he was brought on as a last ditch effort to salvage GFWL and then when they realized it was too late both sides decided to cut ties.

Seems very likely. Won't stop the stream of "lolol" posts in this topic, though.

 

[Tobor]

Microsoft has bow been infiltrated by both Sony (Phil Harrison) and Valve with Jason. All their secrets and strategies just getting poured out to competition. /conspiracy

Why would anyone want to know Microsoft's secret strategies? To learn how not to fail?

 

[JaseC]

Seems very likely. Won't stop the stream of "lolol" posts in this topic, though.

Unlikely, if anything:

I doubt that: the GFWL shutdown notice was posted on the AoE Online site just a few days after this thread was made, so it would have been set in motion before Holtman jumped on board.

 

[Bsigg12]

Why would anyone want to know Microsoft's secret strategies? To learn how not to fail?

Exactly. Look at what they're doing, and report it so they know what not to do to be a hit with the public. Makes perfect sense.

 

[kirblar]

Probably got brought on while they were still on their "XB1 = Steam in a Box" kick.

 

[Mrbob]

Seems very likely. Won't stop the stream of "lolol" posts in this topic, though.

I think the interesting question now is why did he leave. Did he realize MS is a hopeless cause for PC gaming and then bailed out?

 

[DoubleTake]

I doubt that: the GFWL shutdown notice was posted on the AoE Online site just a few days after this thread was made, so it would have been set in motion before Holtman jumped on board.

Oh I see..hmmm

I think the interesting question now is why did he leave. Did he realize MS is a hopeless cause for PC gaming and then bailed out?

Updating my theory to this lol

 

[Leb]

A friend of mine saw Jason Holtman a few months back on the MS campus. He was a broken shell of a man, appearing disheveled and distraught, with the thousand yard stare of a man who had gazed into the abyss of Microsoft's divisional structure and saw things that no man should ever have to see.

I hear he's receiving the very best care at the Mental Health Center at Harborview.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Sounds more like after 8 years of the open ended management style at valve, where everyone has a voice and is all about cooperation, jason just didn't fit in Microsoft rigid corperate structure.

That and probably he realised that Microsoft had no intention of improving the PC market for gaming, only funneling indie titles into the Windows 8 store so they get a cut.

Don't be surprised if he ends up back at Valve or in some indie startup.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Uhhh... Good job making him feel welcome, MS.

Gabe ran for the hills from MS for a reason I guess.

The list of serious talent that has burned out at MS is troubling. One could argue it's the single most important attribute of effective management.

And a lot of the talent hasn't traveled far afterwards...

 

[JaseC]

I think his departure was related to one or both of Microsoft's intention to replace GFWL with something else (such as doubling-down on Windows Store exclusivity) and the company's inability to detach itself from the Xbox to improve its commitment to gaming on the PC side (something that must be particularly true now that some investors are calling on MS to ditch the Xbox).

 

[DoubleTake]

A friend of mine saw Jason Holtman a few months back on the MS campus. He was a broken shell of a man, appearing disheveled and distraught, with the thousand yard stare of a man who had gazed into the abyss of Microsoft's divisional structure and saw things that no man should ever have to see.

I hear he's receiving the very best care at the Mental Health Center at Harborview.

 

[Mass Effect]

Wow. Gone already? Wonder what his reasons could be.

Some theories post above seem like they could be plausible.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

Wow. Gone already? Wonder what his reasons could be.

Some theories post above seem like they could be plausible.

I like this theory:

lol

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Just goes to show they don't give a crap about PC.

 

[Galactic Barret]

If Valve is as free-flowing a company as they're made out to be, he probably couldn't take the structure and more-than-likely bone-headed orders sent from the higher-ups.

 

[Painraze]

I think it's pretty obvious MS sees no future in PC gaming.

 

[Htown]

 

[Syphon Filter]

I think it's pretty obvious MS sees no future in PC gaming.

Wasn't it yesterday where they said support will come[lol] AOE 2 on steam and lococycle incoming with steam. Halo trilogy is in the registry getting updated recently.

 

[golem]

I think it's pretty obvious MS sees no future in PC gaming.

Thats fine with me. Leave PC gaming to Valve, no more of this GFW bs.

 

[JaseC]

Thats fine with me. Leave PC gaming to Valve, no more of this GFW bs.

I know you meant GFWL, but I'd just like to say that the GFW initiative was practically useless itself since Microsoft quickly abandoned the idea of enforcing certification standards, such as controller support (I'm looking at you, pre-Steamworks Bio2).

 

[TheD]

Hahaha, I was thinking of posting that very gif.

 

[Gorillaz]

First sony sent over secret agent Phil Harrison to MS
Now valve sends it's own secret agent


dat coporate espionage

 

[Quadraphonic]

I doubt that: the GFWL shutdown notice was posted on the AoE Online site just a few days after this thread was made, so it would have been set in motion before Holtman jumped on board.

Yeah. A few days is enough to put together an official notice to developers.

That notice was pulled for everything else.

 

[Haunted]

Think about it guys. Go in, kill GFWL, get out. This man is a hero.

 

[Cipherr]

Think about it guys. Go in, kill GFWL, get out. This man is a hero.

Haha. Man what a short stay.

 

[Syphon Filter]

lmao i didnt think about that, that is amazing if it was true.

 

[JaseC]

Yeah. A few days is enough to put together an official notice to developers.

That notice was pulled for everything else.

I don't expect Microsoft to make a formal announcement for another ~7 weeks (i.e. 3 months before the shutdown date).

 

[HariKari]

If someone as qualified as Holtman can't fit in at MS, then there are major culture problems over there. Microsoft was gifted a golden goose and basically tossed it aside. Or didn't give Jason a compelling reason to stay with them.

It must be some kind of mindfuck to go from Valve's structure to Microsoft, though.

still, lol.

 

[eyeball_kid]

They'll have no problem getting someone else just as smart. He accomplished something, but now its time for others to come in and do more.

That's a very corporate executive way of looking at it -- looking at people as "resources" -- but that's not true at his level. In my experience, every person brings a different set of abilities, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and attitude/personality to the table, and you can't just replace Person A with Person B. Of course perhaps Valve wants someone with a different mindset/skillset to come in, but "get someone else just as smart" is an overly simplistic view of talent and even what being "smart" is.

edit: sorry, didn't realize this thread had been bumped from last year

 

[Billen]

It will be very interesting to learn the story behind this, however long that will take.

 

[SneakyStephan]

I mainly game with console and only doing Football Manager on my pc (due to my crappy specs laptop). I'm accustomed to steam but not GFWL. Why do most people hate GFWL? How does it differ from steam?

Noob question I know LOL

You know how xbox 360 with xbox live has a monthly fee to play online?
MS tried that with gfwl on pc (and made halo 2 and gears gfwl only for that purpose)
Other than that gfwl used to also have some nasty limited activations drm

that's literally all that client was made for, as drm and to attempt to paywall pc gamers (which failed because pc is an open platform, thank fucking god did we ever dodge a bullet)

fuck gfwl and fuck ms

 

[chalkitdown1]

Someone shop an xbone in place of Bart and that would be perfect.

 

[Wiktor]

Shows just how much of a joke Microsoft's pc gaming division is. Even it even exists at this point.

 

[Replicant]

LOL.

Maybe he looked at the company and realized what a #Shithole it really is and decided to ditch it like hot steaming poo.

 

[Biker19]

Shows just how much of a joke Microsoft's pc gaming division is. Even it even exists at this point.

It doesn't anymore.

 

[Shard]

It sort of does, Microsoft for the past year or so have been bringing games to the PC via Steam, it is actually better then nothing or GFWL believe it or not.

 

[Woo-Fu]

I think it's pretty obvious MS sees no future in PC gaming.

Nah, they see a great future in PC gaming, a future they don't have to spend any money on outside of maintaining their stranglehold on the desktop OS market.

It makes perfect sense for them to invest their gaming dollars into Xbox instead where they have more control.

 

[ashecitism]

Where is that long MS & PC gaming post again?

maybe should be updated lol

2013: Hires former Steam boss: "Focused on making Windows a great platform for gaming."

2014: Holtman leaves.

 

[Wiktor]

Nah, they see a great future in PC gaming, a future they don't have to spend any money on outside of maintaining their stranglehold on the desktop OS market.

It makes perfect sense for them to invest their gaming dollars into Xbox instead where they have more control.

Seems pretty wasteful and foolish though. Windows has never faced a danger like this before. And in consumer space the main reason to stick to PC over mobile devices is gaming. Microsoft could have leveraged gaming to push Windows 8, as gamers are early adopters. What's more, by ignoring it they're bassicaly giving reins to it to other companies like Valve. And SteamOS might not be a threat right now, but in 5-10 years? Who knows. And Microsoft ignores it solely in pursuit of console gaming.

It's not like they don't have resources to support both, without any real canibalization. So to me it just seems like yet another case of Microsoft screwing up solely because of inside bickering. I suspect Xbox guys are sabotaging any effort at strenghtening PC gaming.

 

[Wiktor]

Where is that long MS & PC gaming post again?

maybe should be updated lol

2013: Hires former Steam boss: "Focused on making Windows a great platform for gaming."

2014: Holtman leaves.

Few days before the news broke somebody from MS actually gave interview to RPS where they described how active they intend to be in pc space

 

[UnrealEck]

I really hope devs embrace SteamOS and welcome Gaben into their lives as their lord and savior.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Makes sense he'd leave, MS have dropped their 'plans' to have their own Steam 'approach' on X1 and that was probably the main reason he was brought in...

 

[Wiktor]

Makes sense he'd leave, MS have dropped their 'plans' to have their own Steam 'approach' on X1 and that was probably the main reason he was brought in...

He was working on Windows, not XBO

 

[Sir Blaming]

Someone shop an xbone in place of Bart and that would be perfect.

 

[D4Danger]

Where is that long MS & PC gaming post again?

maybe should be updated lol

2013: Hires former Steam boss: "Focused on making Windows a great platform for gaming."

2014: Holtman leaves.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=88868188#post88868188

For people getting their hopes up. This is MS's various statements on their promise to PC gaming.

• 2005 - We care about PC gaming, Longhorn (Vista) to usher in modern PC gaming with "Tray and Play"
  Vista launches with none of the stuff MS promised, Vista itself sucks the ass of a thousand camels.
  
  
• 2006 - MS: Don't Count PC Games Out
  MS announces GFWL and how utterly amazing it will be, suckers everywhere rejoice in the eventual ass reaming they don't know is coming yet.
  
  
• 2007 - MS continues PC push
  MS launches GFWL...and it has a $50 a year fee, and they announce a whole slew of games to include Shadowrun with cross platform play and Gears of War 1! What are you paying for you ask? Jank ass software that crashes and has the most unintuitive updating system known to man. Load a game, game says you need update. Signs you out, downloads update, you jump back in...oh GFWL client has a update too! signs you out, downloads up date and you log back in...
  
  MS will shortly thereafter disband Ensemble because MS feels that they're (MS) moving in a different direction! But don't worry we tots <3 you PC gamers.
  
  
• 2008 - MS: PC gaming is A-okay
  Yea we've looked at some money pie charts and can see that PC gaming brings in billions in revenue. Here is our open letter to how awesome PC gaming is and our promise to support it! We finally put some new titles up on GFWL! Oh and we got rid of the $50 a year fee for GFWL, see we're serious about PC gaming! If that's not a sign of commitment, I don't know what is!
  
  
• 2008 - MS: PC gaming is not dead!
  Look at this event we're throwing for PC gaming, you think we'd throw this if we didn't truly care about it?! Look at these games that will be on GFWL. We <3 PC gaming. You want fixes for GFWL issues? We'll look into that.
  
  
• 2008 - MS bolsters PC gaming with all new Games for Windows Live!
  Hey gaiz remember those GFWL client issues you were having...well we didn't fix those per say but....here is the same shit in a slightly newer skin! PROGRESS
  
  
• 2009 - MS: PC gaming still a priority for us!
  Okay gaiz look, this time we're serious about our upcoming push in PC gaming. It's so vital to us at MS that we give the PC our love and support!
  
  
• 2010 - MS: "We're doubling down on PC gaming
  By doubling down we mean we're keeping this shittastic GFWL client around because! We might even throw an update at it to fix the problem of game saves being randomly deleted or rendered worthless...maybe.
  
  
• 2010 - MS Launches Games for Windows Marketplace
  Hey gaiz, we're making GFWL even better because it's now called Games for Windows Marketplace. Everything is brand new and easy to use, anonymous journalists have even said it's better than Steam. We had 3 interns and a janitor work on this, so you know we're committed!
  
  
• 2010 - MS: Windows 8 is going to relaunch gaming!
  Hey gaiz, MS again. With Windows 8 we're totally going to put our full weight behind PC gaming just like we promised back in 2006! Pls be excite.
  
  
• 2012 - MS: We won't ditch GFWL!
  We're committed to PC gaming and we absolutely think GFWL is the best play to get PC games and play with others. Our client is awesome....ly bloated and deletes shit randomly, but that's really one of the charms of PC gaming that we captured! It's a balanced experience! Hope you rike!
  
  
• 2013 - MS to discontinue GFWL
  Hey gaiz new manager here, so like a bunch of your games might stop working come 2014...but that's okay! We expect there to be transitions as we build out new investments, but we remain committed to bringing first party gaming services and games to Windows for years to come. We will share more details in the future!
  
  
• 2013 - MS promises core first party games coming to PC
  We're so committed we swear!

Sorry, but all MS is doing is blowing smoke up the ass of gullible people. So yea go ahead and get your hopes up and get excited. In a year or two when none of what they say comes to fruition...I'll pretend to act shocked.

 

[ChainsawFilms]

Seems pretty wasteful and foolish though. Windows has never faced a danger like this before. And in consumer space the main reason to stick to PC over mobile devices is gaming. Microsoft could have leveraged gaming to push Windows 8, as gamers are early adopters. What's more, by ignoring it they're bassicaly giving reins to it to other companies like Valve. And SteamOS might not be a threat right now, but in 5-10 years? Who knows. And Microsoft ignores it solely in pursuit of console gaming.

It's not like they don't have resources to support both, without any real canibalization. So to me it just seems like yet another case of Microsoft screwing up solely because of inside bickering. I suspect Xbox guys are sabotaging any effort at strenghtening PC gaming.

Great post.

Home users are moving to tablets, I imagine tablet sales far exceed home laptop sales these days. SteamOS may be a tipping point for PC gamers. I imagine most of us will give it a shot, dual boot, and we'll see which developers make the move themselves.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Good news, his talents were probably put to waste there.