Phil Spencer making cross-buy between Windows 10 and Xbox One a platform feature.

[Chazore]

Dr.Henry_Killinger said:

That's why I said "might"

That being said steam isn't competing with with Windows as an OS, at least not yet, but Windows as a PC games vendor.

Bigger library yeah, full mod support yeah ok, but its a lot easier, to have a Window's store account and a Steam account, as opposed to differing consoles or differing platforms, and account ownership is pretty pointless in the realm of pc vendors. Its the software sales that matter, which is why this can harm Steam. Even if you don't have an XB1, until the steam deals come in, this automatically "soft" discounts games on Windows store as opposed to Steam. You can simply stop buying 3rd party games on Steam and get them on Windows Store.

It's most definetely a likely threat to Steam.

It might be like you say but I honestly don't see them taking back the biggest share of the pie anytime soon. It will take years of earning more users and their trust back along with doing what Steam does and copying everything they have on their client and try to one up them on what they current do.

 

I know software sales are all that matter on PC but it's no good if you lock all the games to a single OS and store at a much later date (seriously it feels like forever since they said Gears was coming and it still hasn't come and they have been super quiet about the PC port entirely which is worrying even their dedicated PC fans over on the GoW forums). I mean at elast with Team they give their exclusives to other OS's, only difference is you of course have to use their store but the added benefits follow into using their store like said mod support, massive library of diverse titles not owned in any way by valve and with devs naturally throwing their titles willingly up on Steam. With MS it's mostly money deals or "I tell you to sell on my store" (remember the whole indie push with an iron fist in terms of contracts and how well that went for them?).

Totally admit freely that Valve does some stupid shit and backfires (like charging for mods or super late refund system) but they haven't done the elvels that MS had done and as such MS still has a ways to go to get back a good chunk of the market, this latest idea of theirs is good but it's not going to be the first and final strike to Valv. Sure it will definitely be a threat but not a collosal "Hey look at the constant millions upon millions of users and money we're getting from this alone" kind of threat.

Also the store as far as I know supports 10 only, Steam supports Linux, Mac, Steam OS, windows 7,8,8.1 and 10, that's like a huge advantage to Steam and even the likes of GoG and other vendors. MS is literally banking on their own brand, their own form of control vs everyone else. their chances of getting back to that 90's god of PC gaming status just ain't going to happen, not for a loooong time with the current forms of competition and how quickly the markets evolve with time, much fater than what the market was like in the 90's.