Steam vs MS divide is 'hurting PC industry' - Gearbox

Gearbox has called on Microsoft and Valve to fix the incompatibility between titles purchased via Games For Windows and Steam.

The studio, which is readying PC gaming favourite Duke Nukem Forever for release on the format next year, claims that Steam and Microsoft are "building silos" which ultimately "hurt the PC industry".


"[We] want people to be able to play together and right now if a guy buys a game on Games for Windows and a guy buys a game on Steam - they can't play together," Gearbox's head of marketing Steve Gibson said at London Games Festival. "If another guy bought it in a retail store, he can't play with the first two guys."

Gibson called on Microsoft and Steam to work out a way where purchasers of their games could play simultaneously.

"Right now we're like 'Please, work together'," he said. "Our big concern right now is that these silos are being built. Everybody's separating out and it's really... as a developer who just wants gamers to be able to play games together, it's frustrating right now. Things like that are hurting the PC industry for gamers. This is frustrating for everybody right now."

Gibson asked gamers to put pressure on Steam and Microsoft to "play nice!".

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford said this week that Duke Nukem Forever is packed with sex, swearing and violence - and "dances on the line of decency". Groovy.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS

well, I'm thinking this isn't MS or Valves fault. This is the publishers fault. They should stick to 1 method of selling their games. Not sell the same game thru 3 different companies.

Either choose steam, or GfW, not both. And if you release it in a box, make sure it works thru steam or gfw.