Microsoft and Steam getting along?
So if you look at the competition for PC gaming, it’s basically a monopoly. Steam controls everything and Microsoft’s Games for Windows is 2nd, but still far behind the success of Valve’s Steam. And for a long time, a game either comes out on Steam or Games for Windows with Steam having tremendous success. So how are these two PC rivals may be shaking hands soon, find out after the jump…
With Sony having no business in PC gaming, they decided to release Portal 2 as a cross PS3-PC game, meaning you can connect to Steam players on the PC to gamers on the PS3 and vice versa. The PS3 version of Portal 2 even came with it’s own key for the PC version, but with PSN being down for most likely, a few days, it looks like we’ll have to wait to see how this works. But nonetheless, it’s cool. The reason Microsoft wasn’t part of this deal is most likely because they don’t want to lose popularity with Games for Windows.
The only games that really come out for Games for Windows are games published by it’s own creator, Microsoft. Microsoft most likely has seen the success the Portal 2/PC-PS3 deal with comparing Portal 2 sales to their competitor, PS3. Microsoft has released info that Fable III for the PC will not only release on Games for Windows, but also Steam. This is a good step forward for the competitors and maybe we’ll see an Xbox 360/Steam integration game much like Portal 2 with the PS3 soon. One can only hope.
The PC version of Fable III is set to release on May 17 on Games for Windows and Steam.
[Picture source: CrunchGear.com]