Industrygamers

Earlier today we were somewhat surprised to see an announcement from Microsoft announcing Lionhead's Fable III on PC is coming not only to Games for Windows (GFW) but also Valve's Steam platform. This seems to be a direct contradiction of Microsoft's approach to counter Steam with the launch of a new Games for Windows Marketplace last fall, which the company said had a "leg up" on Valve's service.

We couldn't help but wonder if this meant that Microsoft is beginning to give up on GFW, but in reality, the more important aspect of this Fable III announcement may be that Microsoft is actually strengthening its relationship with Valve and could perhaps allow for Steam support in future Valve titles on the Xbox 360.  Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities agrees.

When we asked Pachter if the Fable news meant abandonment of GFW or the chance of Steam support on Xbox 360, he answered, "I think it's the latter.  Microsoft has a great relationship with Valve, and I think that their support for Steam is not necessarily a sign that they are giving up on Games for Windows."

After all, Valve just released the critically acclaimed Portal 2 on consoles, and most gamers would tell you the PS3 version is superior. Microsoft execs probably don't like reading quotes from Valve's Gabe Newell like this one: "We made a promise to gamers at E3 that Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 would be the best console version of the product. Working together with Sony we have identified a set of features we believe are very compelling to gamers. We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases."

If Microsoft is smart, they'll work with Valve to make sure future Valve titles on 360 are on par with their PS3 counterparts.

DFC Intelligence's David Cole isn't so sure it'll happen though. "Obviously Microsoft wants to be a big distributor of digital content and that is why they have Xbox to begin with. So I see them being very limited in bringing on other distributors to Xbox," he told us. "Their PC distribution is weak. So they need to use competitors. With Xbox they control digital distribution. So it is totally separate and I wouldn't read anything into Steam PC implying a change for Xbox."

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/steam-support-for-xbox-360-games/

I'm not really seeing how the two are related.

Also, Fable III is still a GFWL title.  Even if you buy it through Steam, you must still install GFWL for DRM and patching purposes.

I think David Cole in the last paragraph sums it all up quite nicely.

PC: Microsoft = weak distributor with lots of competition

X-box: Microsoft = complete content control with no competitors

Why would Microsoft let go of the power they have on the 360?

What they both said seems to sum it up

I maybe wrong, but stream allows free add-ons with achievements right?  M$ won't allow that.  They make people pay for add on content with achievements.

Allowing Stream on PS3 may allow that content to be free.  Since some people buy games only for achievements/trophies, this may give the edge to PS3 with Stream.

It's Steam, not Stream.

I don't see it as a sign of Steam on Live.  MS don't want that and I'm sure they'd have given in already if they did.  It's simply a sign that they are acknowledging Steam is stronger on windows and if they want their titles to sell they need to be on it.

I think this is more about trying to make sure Fable 3 sells well than Live or Steam.

If Fable 3 wasn't on Steam it would lose a lot of sales IMHO, and MS are simply acknowledging that.

But Live is another matter and I don't see MS feeling like they have to allow Steam onto the servive.

if microsoft allows steam on live, they cant require you to have a gold membership to play your steam games on live. microsoft has nothing to do with steams servers so they cant charge you to access them.

the same thing happened with ffxi, microsoft let them on live and they cant require a gold membership for people to play that because microsoft isnt involved in those servers. they probably dont want to let anyone else on live if theyre not using microsofts servers becasue its potentially lost revenue through gold subscriptions. why pay an extra 50$ to play on microsofts servers when you can play on steams servers for free?

So if i buy fable 3 off steam i cant just play it through steam, i have to install GFWL and sign up to that?

If so i hope steam warns users of this before parting with cash.