Paul Sams, Chief Operating Officer at Blizzard, is wishing that Microsoft would increase its interest in the computing and gaming platform it helped popularize.
PC developers have been increasingly vocal, stressing the postives of the platform for games. Joining the likes of Valve in expressing its concerns, Blizzard has called out Microsoft to improve PC development.
As part of his question and answer session at the Paris GDC, Blizzard Senior Vice President Rob Pardo replied to a question about Microsoft, “With Microsoft, I think they have a bit of lip service with PC gaming. They have their own game system now, so I don’t think it’s really in their best interest to support [PC].”
Despite Microsoft’s self-interest in the success of the Xbox 360, Sams sees the PC as a platform in which Microsoft has an equal investment.
“Well, their gaming focus is very much on the [Xbox] 360,” Sams explained. “And that makes sense, cause they’re a hardware manufacturer as well as a software developer. And so they’ve got a lot of money and investment tied up in that system.”
He continued, “Certainly they have a lot in Windows. And Windows is a system that supports all the business applications as well as games.”
Sams hopes that the house that Bill Gates built will address the PC market.
“And I kind of look at it and say to myself, and I think similarly to Rob, is that it would be great if they put more emphasis on the Windows operating system, certainly probably the most prominent operating system in the world. Even more so than console boxes,” said Sams. “And they own and operate that system, so having them put more energy and effort against it – and they would say that they are, but I think that there’s more that can be done.”
Ultimately, Sams agrees with Pardo that Microsoft has no incentive to make such an investment in PC gaming. “It makes sense to me, what they’re doing, they’re putting their energy and focus against the 360,” stated Sams, “That’s where their huge R&D dollars are that they have to earn out on and that’s where I think their gaming bread and butter is right now.”
Source: Gamasutra
Published: Jul 2, 2008 08:08 pm