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[Ceebs]

Searched, but did not see a thread about this yet.

RPS posted a story today about the promising looking indie game Skulls of the Shogun being a Windows 8 exclusive.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/12/no-7-samurai-skulls-of-the-shogun-goes-win-8-only/

Queue loads of negative comments. They then posted a followup with developer Borut Pfiefer

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/12/follow-up-skulls-of-the-shoguns-win-8-debate/

“I know the game has taken a while to finish – some of you have been waiting a couple years (since we first showed it) for it to be finished,” he said in regard to disappointed RPS readers who aren’t planning on moving to Windows 8.

“Part of that was us spending the time it takes in this industry to find & negotiate a deal we liked, and met all of our wants and needs – not just our needs running a small indie studio, but as both PC and console gamers.

“It can take almost a year to figure out a good deal to get on both console & PC. And in our case, we managed to get a simultaneous launch on console and at-least-some-flavor-of-Windows, which is largely unheard of for indie games.”

Borut also adds that “as we announce more about the game, hopefully our reasoning will become more apparent. We are however confident our Windows 8 sales would outsell a theoretical Game For Windows Live & Win 7 version.”

This worked out so well for Halo 2 and Shadowrun. I know being published by Microsoft on XBLA is not a bad proposition considering the marketing they will put behind the game, but I am not sure why a small studio would let themselves be strong armed into sacrificing their PC version when other indies have managed to put out their PC version of MS published XBLA game just fine (Super Meat Boy, Braid and Limbo come to mind)

PC players do not mind waiting a few months for these games, but I doubt anyone would consider a simultaneous launch worthwhile when the cost is upgrading to what looks like a OS with the desktop as a distant priority.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

This time, it's real.

 

[Ferrio]

Windows 8, getting worse with every bit of news.

 

[Loxley]

At least we'll never have something as bad as "Halo 2 exclusively on Vista (three years after it came out on the Xbox)" again.

Spoiler

...right?

 

[HotHamWater]

Just when you thought Windows 8 couldn't get any worse...

 

[Zizbuka]

Regardless of Windows version, sell your developer soul to GFWL and you lose.

 

[Kokonoe]

If they put all the arcade titles for Windows 8 I'd probably upgrade. If it's just newer games, most likely not.

 

[Aeana]

I'm trying to skip Windows 8. (._. )

 

[onQ123]

welcome to the Xbox 8 ecosystem.


next stop windows 8 only retail games that will also play on the Xbox8

 

[clav]

Is Microsoft pulling something for XBLA that Apple already does for iOS? (i.e. Buy once for iPhone, play on other devices iPad/iPod/Mountain Lion at no additional costs.)

Don't understand the hate here about Windows 8.

If that is the case, that makes sense.

 

[Ceebs]

It's sad because I was totally in for this game until this new.

 

[Ferrio]

I'm skipping it for sure, this tactic isn't going to change that. Just makes sure I spend less money on their shit. I hope this developer is getting tons of money hats from Microsoft for this. Limiting your product to windows 8 is a death sentence.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

You reach more customer supporting Vista, 7 and 8 than just XBLA and 8...

 

[EatinOlives]

Windows 8: You'll Use it Because We Fucking Forced You To.

It's like Microsoft already knows it's going to be turd, so how they'll just force people to upgrade to inflate their sales.

 

[lowrider007]

*sigh*

I have a feeling MS is going to try and force us to upgrade to win8 tooth and nail, I actually believe if too many people refuse to upgrade there be a forced 'metro' service pack update for win7 down the road :-(

As long as they leave win7 alone I'll be happy but still stupid to have this as win8 exclusive.

 

[Drazgul]

I'm trying to skip Windows 8. (._. )

I am skipping Windows 8. If some game will be an exclusive (fat chance it won't be circumvented anyway), they can keep it.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

They pulled this shit when Vista, DX10, and GFWL launched. Reaction was negative-as-hell and the games sold terribly. Then they launched Windows 7, which didn't pull any exclusivity bullshit with games or DirectX version, and it was loved by all. Looks like Microsoft has an alternating cycle where they have to go from being terrible bastards with one OS release, to hated ass-hats with the next.

Either way, I'm still not interested in Windows 8 because of all of the other bullshit surrounding it. It's too bad, because some of the features look pretty neat.

 

[Ketch]

Bummer, I was really looking forward to the game finally coming out.... but unless win 8 is free I won't be buying skulls of the shogun.

 

[Tellaerin]

Windows 8: You'll Use it Because We Fucking Forced You To.

It's like Microsoft already knows it's going to be turd, so how they'll just force people to upgrade to inflate their sales.

I'll switch to Linux first.

 

[DTKT]

ugh.

 

[Glix]

Oh...

When I heard the dude on 8-4, I thought he made it seem like the game was coming with every copy of Win8...

 

[Kyou]

this worked out great with Halo 2

edit: Shit, just noticed that sentiment twice!

Guess I just wont be getting very many XBLA ports on PC anymore

 

[Angelus Errare]

lol Microsoft.

 

[M3d10n]

You reach more customer supporting Vista, 7 and 8 than just XBLA and 8...

Windows 8 has an app store built into the OS while nobody knows you can buy GFWL games online. This is huge and no amount of hate changes that fact.

 

[SMT]

Yeah, but you'll be able to play Xbox 360 games on it! Of course, this is just a cash-in for a parallel upgrade that has a few new features. But Bayo with custom setting on DESKTOP.

 

[jokkir]

Uhgg why.

 

[Shard]

This finally explains Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet being stuck with GFWL.

 

[Twinduct]

So ... nothing really changes? I mean we'll still wait a few months for the eventual steam release?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Hahaha what

 

[outunderthestars]

Hang on, this is just for games that MS publishes yes? Not really seeing the big deal here. Want to make Mac, Windows 7, and Linux ports of a game? Get another publisher besides MS.

 

[Talamius]

In a world without Steam, this might be a problem.

 

[Alexios]

Meh... If they want people to upgrade so soon after 7 they should lower their prices a ton.

I mean, this is just an arbitrary lock it's not like there's some new DX that only runs on 8.

Hopefully it'll just be a few titles here and there and the bulk of the devs they can't force still support 7.

What's these guys' reasoning for thinking they'll sell more on 8 than 7? Especially since they don't say XBLA + 8.

 

[Shard]

Hang on, this is just for games that MS publishes yes? Not really seeing the big deal here. Want to make Mac, Windows 7, and Linux ports of a game? Get another publisher besides MS.

Yes, that is thing missed, go with Microsoft on PC and you get stuck with GFWL and/or Windows 8.

 

[Ferrio]

Hang on, this is just for games that MS publishes yes? Not really seeing the big deal here. Want to make Mac, Windows 7, and Linux ports of a game? Get another publisher besides MS.

It's not a problem for us. For microsoft and these xbla developers.. ya they're stupid.

 

[Why would you do that?]

It's a shame when platform exclusivity is forced away from something already quite popular...

Windows 8, getting worse with every bit of news.

Technically, it just got better with this piece of news.

But I see what you mean, and yes, I'll definitely not use Windows 8 if I can help it. Based on my experiences with the open beta, I secretly hope it fades away into obscurity like Windows ME (the last Windows 9x ).

 

[Htown]

I feel sorry for the indie devs that are going to get fucking screwed by doing this. I knew Microsoft was going to do this with something, but I figured it'd be a Halo game or something. Guess they figured they could do it cheaper by paying some indie devs.

 

[Ceebs]

Hang on, this is just for games that MS publishes yes? Not really seeing the big deal here. Want to make Mac, Windows 7, and Linux ports of a game? Get another publisher besides MS.

Microsoft not allowing self publishing on XBLA is what forces these devs to choose between a bad or sub-optimal deal or no XBLA at all.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Windows 8 has an app store built into the OS while nobody knows you can buy GFWL games online. This is huge and no amount of hate changes that fact.

GFWL?

Super Meat Boy was published by MS on XBLA and reached the millions of users on Steam, it doesn't use GFWL at all, I don't even think it was sold on the GFWL store.

I'm not sure where you got the idea these games were even using GFWL at all.

 

[Htown]

It's so disgusting how terrible Microsoft has gotten on PC. I think they've done exactly two good things for the platform in the last decade: push for more 360 controller integration in PC games, and abandon their policy ignoring Steam for people that want the few games they actually make for PC any more.

 

[Beautifully Shaped Monsters]

Sorry, but fuck app stores. You basically sell the freedom of having a PC for a little bit of convenience. And for metro apps, apparently the app store is the only way to get them.

The real villain here is Microsoft. It's a bitchy move to force devs to delay PC versions in order to allow them to put it on XBLA, but still the dev here deserves flak for agreeing to those terms.

 

[Htown]

Windows 8 has an app store built into the OS while nobody knows you can buy GFWL games online. This is huge and no amount of hate changes that fact.

Every OS has an app store built in.

It's called the fucking internet.

 

[zashga]

Yet another obstacle preventing me from (eventually) playing Fez, then.

 

[Duxxy3]

I just bought windows 7. I have ZERO intention of changing operating systems for another 5+ years - at minimum.

 

[Emitan]

Remember when Vista was awful so they tried to make you buy it for Halo 2?

Yeah.

I WONDER IF WINDOWS 8 WILL BE GOOD.

Considering how XBLA sales seem to be falling off a cliff (at least according to what I've heard on podcasts) this will be a non factor when games that would have gone to XBLA go to Steam instead.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Silly Microsoft.

 

[NZNova]

Windows 8 only? Guess I won't be buying those then.

 

[Sentenza]

While I can sympathize with them and I think Microsoft pulled a shitty move as usual, i can't help but wonder why they are accepting those conditions.

"They forced us to chose between GFWL or W8".
Well, what about "Screw you, I'm going to publish this game on Steam during some seasonal sale"?
Unless MS funded the development, too?

Remember when Vista was awful so they tried to make you buy it for Halo 2?
Yeah.

I WONDER IF WINDOWS 8 WILL BE GOOD.

Ok. This made me laugh.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

I'm trying to skip Windows 8. (._. )

When it comes to Windows OS they are only good every other version. So since Win7 is decent obviously Win8 will not be any good.

 

[echoshifting]

This is a seriously awful, evil thing to do to indie devs. If you must do this, do it with your own games, Microsoft...I feel like they are basically treating indie devs like crash test dummies, and the little guys can't afford to do that. Just terrible =/

 

[Draft]

That's what they get for signing a deal with MS.