14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into getting the Windows Store right, and this is why Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games, believes that the software giant is trying to make Windows 10 a closed platform that would eventually kill the other gaming platforms such as the likes of Steam.
Sweeney has already accused Microsoft of trying to lock down Windows and force developers to bring games in the Windows Store, but Redmond claims the exact opposite. And yet, Sweeney isn’t sure that Microsoft is doing the right thing with Windows 10, so he has made some new accusations in a recent interview.
“Sneaky PR moves”
Sweeney claims that Microsoft wants to “phase out Win32 apps” and wants the PC to become a closed platform. The company can gradually destroy Steam, he thinks, and with what he calls “sneaky maneuvers,” it can convince users to move to the Windows Store. Developers will have no other choice than to follow the trend and move to the Store as well.
“Slowly, over the next 5 years, they will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken,” Sweeney explains in the interview.
“They'll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seem like an ideal alternative. That's exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they're doing it to Steam. It's only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan but they are certainly trying.”
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, has already pointed out earlier this year that Windows 10 is not in any way designed to become a closed platform, and the concept of universal apps is there to give developers more freedom because they can target multiple platforms with the same code.
But Sweeney can’t believe this is true, so he thinks that, in five years, everything will change because of Microsoft’s push for Windows 10 and Windows Store apps.
“They've been able to [start] this via some sneaky PR moves. They make a bunch of statements that sound vaguely like they're promising openness but really they're not promising anything of the sort,” he concluded.