Over the last few days, much has been made from Gabe Newell’s remarks about Windows 8, seeing it as a catastrophe for game makers. As Gabe runs Valve, that’s kind of important. Recently, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has given his own words on the matter, and he agrees with Gabe. The issue at stake isn’t the operating system itself, but rather, what control of the OS allows Microsoft to do. Microsoft is building Windows 8 as a sort of walled garden, wrapped around their own online store. This could make it difficult, if not impossible, for games to reach gamers with Windows 8 unless they go through Microsoft’s toll booth. Game Politics has the story.
Think about it this way. Imagine there’s a construction company, and they’re paid to make roads. This construction company also owns a bunch of stores, and those stores compete with other stores run by other companies. Now, consider the roadbuilders, that is, Microsoft, building their roads so that the streets only go by stores the company owns, and somehow they curve around and avoid any stores owned by someone else. If you want to buy, it’s Microsoft or a long walk.
Also, in this example, Microsoft is stabbing a puppy in the gut with a broken bottle.