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[dLMN8R]

Except Microsoft would be getting a cut of Valve's transactions just like it is on XBox Live.

This is not true. Developers are free and encouraged to use their own transaction system for in-app purchases if they have a capable and mature transaction system already in place. If they do so, then Microsoft doesn't take any share of the revenue.

If a developer doesn't have a transaction system like this, then they can use Microsoft's in-app purchase model, for which Microsoft gets 30% of every transaction.

(That 30% also goes to 20%, for both in-app purchases and initial sales, after the developer makes $25,000 in total revenue between all such transactions)

 

[Rlan]

Can you actually purchase games through the Steam iOS app? I always thought it was limited to viewing and wishlisting.

 

[Game Guru]

Can you actually purchase games through the Steam iOS app? I always thought it was limited to viewing and wishlisting.

It is limited to that and just purchasing games for both iOS and Android. Kind of a waste for Android though since Steam would probably work well as a storefront for Android games in addition to the Windows, Mac, and soon to be Linux support.

 

[Parham]

Can you actually purchase games through the Steam iOS app? I always thought it was limited to viewing and wishlisting.

Yes, you can buy PC and Mac games on the mobile app.

 

[Slavik81]

I would argue just the opposite.

Bringing up a launch environment tells my brain "you are to be focused on launching something".

Having all the other clutter of the workflow on-screen just confuses the process. "Was I launching... or....?" And the other elements on the screen don't necessarily inform as to what you should be launching. "Was I launching... or was I going to keep browsing that GAF chrome tab out of the corner of my eye?"

But of course, perhaps not everyone is the same. Maybe a start menu is more conducive to fast work for some.

Have you ever walked into a room and thought, "I know I needed to get something from here... but what was it?" When you walk back to where you originally decided you needed to fetch something, you almost always remember, because you see the reason why you needed it again.

Bringing up a launch environment tells your brain "you are to be focused on launching something" but it hides the reason why you are focused on launching something, and it completely changes the environment from when you made that original decision to launch something. For those reasons, the start screen does not follow the normal guidelines of a usability-focused UX.

I've seen little justification for those departures from accepted design principles. I'm sure there must have been some heated arguments within Microsoft that we may never be privy to.

 

[sangreal]

I doubt any arguments lasted long. It's the same paradigm as the mobile space, which is actually fast-growing unlike the stale Desktop market. It simply defies reality to suggest that the start screen is too outrageous for people to accept when their phones and tablets all work the same way without any complaint.

 

[coldfoot]

It simply defies reality to suggest that the start screen is too outrageous for people to accept when their phones and tablets all work the same way without any complaint.

It simply defies reality that an interface designed to be used with touch makes no sense without a touchscreen?