Following Microsoft"s announcement of 5,000 job cuts last Thursday and the subsequent sacking of former boss Chris Early on Monday, Ron Pessner is to head up the Games for Windows team with renewed optimism.
The service, which launched in 2007, was quickly criticised for being a subscription based service on what is traditional a free gaming platform. Combined with a plethora of problems of which many were never resolved, the platform became free in July 2008 with little interest shown. Despite the success of it"s older brother, Xbox Live, the Games for Windows Live platform has never been able to find it"s feet in a market already heavily dominated by Valve"s Steam.
However, Microsoft is still keen to "invest in Windows as a first–class gaming platform through great Windows out of box experiences," today"s statement reads. Despite titles such as Shadowrun, which pitted both Xbox 360 and PC gamers against each other, failing to catch on, Microsoft insist they are committed to their in-house game development team.
Are Microsoft able to salvage the sinking ship that is Games for Windows Live?