14 DAY TRIAL // Valve’s CEO Gabe Newell has already criticized Windows 8 with several occasions, but this time he calls Microsoft’s latest operating system an “unusable” software.
Newell said in an interview with The Verge that Windows 8 is like a giant sadness that does nothing more than to affect sales of everyone in the PC industry.
“The thing about Windows 8 wasn’t just [Microsoft's] distribution. As somebody who participates in the overall PC ecosystem, it’s totally great when faster wireless networks and standards come out, or when graphics get faster. Windows 8 was like this giant sadness. It just hurts everybody in the PC business,” he said.
Newell says that Windows 8 has completely changed the way consumers see the operating system and, consequently, the PC industry.
People no longer want to purchase new computers because Windows 8 doesn’t bring anything exciting, so they prefer to stay with their old hardware running Windows 7. That’s affecting both Microsoft and the other companies in the industry.
“Rather than everybody being all excited to go buy a new PC, buying new software to run on it, we’ve had a 20+ percent decline in PC sales — it’s like ‘holy cow that’s not what the new generation of the operating system is supposed to do.’ There’s supposed to be a 40 percent uptake, not a 20 percent decline, so that’s what really scares me. When I started using it I was like ‘oh my god...’ I find [Windows 8] unusable,” Newell continued.
This isn’t the first time when Gabe Newell blasts Windows 8, as the Valve CEO called Microsoft’s new operating system a “gaming catastrophe” back in July.
Newell explained that the integrated Windows Store may actually drive gamers and companies away from its very own Steam platform, especially because Microsoft would provide its very own store available at one-click distance.