Stardock’s Brad Wardell Not a Fan of Game For Windows

Scribbled on October 3rd, 2009 by Jonathon Howard
Filed in Interviews, Live for Windows, PC

Stardock wasn’t always a gaming company, before Galactic Empires, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Demigod, the publisher was best known for its WindowBlinds products which allowed users to create customized user interfaces in Windows. The company though has successfully branched off into PC gaming, they even have a dedicated DLC delivery system (much like Valve’s STEAM) called Impulse. Despite all this, though, Stardock is backing away from Microsoft’s Games for Windows, especially the Live component of it. Games for Windows Live is Microsoft’s attempt to bring to PC the same centralized hub where gamers would go to get all sorts of content, from DLC for their games to music and videos, that the XBox 360 users have on XBox Live.

In a recent interview with ShackNews the CEO of Starcock Bard Wardell said:

“I started out as a big Games for Windows Live advocate. I intended for Elemental to be on Games for Windows Live, but then as we got closer, the Xbox group took it over more and more.”

Those Xbox people wanted to run the same model on the PC that has been so successful on the 360, basically charging both users (which has now been discontinued) and developers for the service. Apparantly without ever bothering to think about how that model could ever work in the PC world (where Microsoft does not have absolute control, as they do with the 360). Wardell isn’t alone though Microsoft has had a difficult time getting other publishers and developers to adopt the Live system. Wardell did warn though that if it ever became standard both he and Stardock would be out of the PC gaming business, ”If Games for Windows Live maintains that strategy and they take over, I’m done, I’m not making PC games. I would be done.”

If Microsoft could devise a successful integrated hub center for PC gaming, as they’ve done on the 360, we might one day see more Achievements and Gamerscore on our computers. But, until Microsoft can convince publishers to go with the system – on the 360 they don’t have a choice – we’ll have to keep dreaming about it.

(Thanks, StrategyInformer.)

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