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
Gaben's sleeper agent. Doesn't fuck around.
Obviously he must have been......the Cboat!!!
Dun, dun, dun
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.
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
Seems very likely. Won't stop the stream of "lolol" posts in this topic, though.
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.
Why would anyone want to know Microsoft's secret strategies? To learn how not to fail?
Seems very likely. Won't stop the stream of "lolol" posts in this topic, though.
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.
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?
Uhhh... Good job making him feel welcome, MS.
Gabe ran for the hills from MS for a reason I guess.
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.
Wow. Gone already? Wonder what his reasons could be.
Some theories post above seem like they could be plausible.
I think it's pretty obvious MS sees no future in PC gaming.
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.
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.
Think about it guys. Go in, kill GFWL, get out. This man is a hero.
Think about it guys. Go in, kill GFWL, get out. This man is a hero.
Yeah. A few days is enough to put together an official notice to developers.
That notice was pulled for everything else.
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.
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
Shows just how much of a joke Microsoft's pc gaming division is. Even it even exists at this point.
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.
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 spaceWhere 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.
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...
Someone shop an xbone in place of Bart and that would be perfect.
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.
For people getting their hopes up. This is MS's various statements on their promise to PC gaming.
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.
- 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!
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.