microsoft just needs to clear some space for when they buy valve.

Let me just say

AoE>>>>>>>>Empire Earth

So I am at least glad ensemble outlasted Stainless Steel studios.

I really wish Ensemble hadn't shut down though
Although I have a feeling the core team is still together in some way. But they lost their identity. They are just another microsoft dev. #26 now. *sigh*

Microsoft was never any good at 1st party games development. Blame it on their internal MGS management, and their inability to attract talented game developers to MS, and then get them to stick around.

Microsoft has a strong 2nd party setup, however. They are good at business relations in this regard -- they should have done this long ago.

Microsoft 1st party == dead. Good riddance. Sad to see the studios they bought go, however. I would wager that Bungie knew this was going to happen, and, being passionate devs, that's why they opted to purchase themselves from MS, and instead become a 2nd-party studio (at least in the short-term). Hopefully Rare and Turn 10 will also manage to survive somehow.

Volcatis is correct. MS makes the OS, but makes hardly anything from PC gaming.

Microsoft makes money for every single 3rd party 360 game sold. Every single accessory.

Microsoft makes no money for 3rd party PC sales. $0 from WoW. $0 from Steam. No money from a $500 PC graphics card, and nothing from a $100 sound card. MS gets the same regardless if you buy a $400 pc or a $2000 gaming machine.

Games for Windows Live was their half-hearted attempt to extort a monthly fee from PC gamesr, but it failed. Now they would rather focus on the platform where they have total control over everything.

PC gaming would be better off without Microsoft at this point anyway.

The bolded statement is not entirely true, actually.  They indirectly make money from those products by having the publishers get their games approved for the "Made of Windows" stamps on the box.  The publishers have to pay (actually a fair amount) for that process.  I believe the cost is per-product, and not per-unit-sold, however -- thus WoW costs the same as any no-name generic shooter.

Really? I always heard they never made money from having games "stamped", and to be honest I don't believe developers/publishers would pay to Microsoft for it.

GFWL had so much potential - it could rival and surpass Steam, but Micrososft started screwing everything right from the start with the monthly fees. Then came the waiting period before they finaly gained some sense and made it free... however they improved almost nothing, and it just feels dated. Hell, Stardock's Impulse is doing what they should've done at any point.

I was rooting for GFW a couple of times: when it was announced (until they screwed with the fees), and when they made it completely free (but lost my patience)

you keep posting your bolded sentence about how big the sucess of pc gaming is. but do u know how big germany is compared to the world? its HUGE... stfu

My take on Microsoft is they never really got the hang of first-party game development. Their early offerings were iffy. They got lucky with some development studios they acquired, but never really did much internally. They appear now to do moneyhatting to get what they want, which is like having your own studio, but not really. They are now console focused for this, and back to their old model of making money off selling tools and being the tool booth that they get a cut of all action in an area. These are the facts:
1. PC gaming business has not been growing. It is subject to piracy. It is great to break into the business with, and get a start, but big production titles tend to be supported better by the console model.
2. Microsoft's main claim to fame are in areas that have been played out pretty much. How many more RTS titles are going to be able to be done on PCs and people buy them? You have Blizzard and EA covering that. Everything else has been done just about.
2a. Flight sims? How many more times can they do this?
2b. Mech simulators? How many more times for this also?
3. It is just easier for Microsoft to moneyhat IPs and let it be, and make their money taxing the console business, and making higher profit margins on business software.

Yes, it is a sad day here, but things move on. I personally would like to see a REAL Shadowrun RPG done. Not a FPS but a game that involves hacking, firearms and magic.

M$ just made a huge advertising deal with Blizzard.  So yes, they are making money off of WoW.  And will make money from Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.

And M$ does have a huge interest in PC game development.  It is called DirectX.  And it might be losing some importance, but it is still a behemeth for graphical development.

I don't get it, how is Direct 3d losing importance when the competition(OpenGL) has effectively folded? Is there some other reason?