14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's Phil Spencer has praised Valve for what it's done for PC gaming, admitting that the independent studio has achieved much more than what his own company did through Windows and Games for Windows Live.
Microsoft has focused for quite some time on its Xbox consoles and division, trying to get exclusive games, experiences, and applications for them so that players are connected to the whole Xbox Live ecosystem.
Meanwhile, however, the company has mostly forgotten about the Windows operating system, which is primarily used by tens of millions of gamers worldwide, or has supported it via shoddy services like Games for Windows Live.
In a talk with Edge, Microsoft's Phil Spencer has admitted that Valve, the developer of major games like Half-Life and of the Steam digital distribution service, has done more for PC gaming than Microsoft itself. Even so, he promises that the company wants to make good and implement new technologies like DirectX 12 to please PC users.
"They’ve been the backbone for PC gaming for the last decade when you think about the work that they’ve done," Spencer said. "As the Windows company I appreciate what they’ve done. In a lot of ways they’ve focused more on PC gaming than we have, and for me that’s something inside the company that we’ll have a renewed focus on – Windows and PC gaming inside of Microsoft is definitely happening – you saw the DX12 demos here and you will see more from us over the summer."
What's more, Spencer also welcomed the competition Valve is bringing to the living room, as through the Steam Machines initiative it wants to make small form factor PCs worthy rivals for consoles like the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, or PS4.
"What they’re doing with Steam Machines makes sense for them," he continued. "They’ve got a great storefront and 64 million accounts and consumers that buy a lot of content. It’s very smart for Valve to take the installed base of the customers they have and get them on the [living room] screen," he said.
Spencer also highlighted that Microsoft is eager for competition, as it can learn a lot from rivals and their strategies.
"Competition is a good thing, we learn a ton from what Sony and Nintendo do, and we learn a ton from what Valve does too," he added.
The first wave of Steam Machines is set to debut this year and it's going to be interesting to see how they'll perform as opposed to established home consoles.