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Following the launch of Windows 10, how will the new OS change the way players game? Here Microsoft’s UK
PC accessories marketing manager Tom Phillips reveals why the firm is embracing gamers again…
I am predominantly a PC gamer. I laugh to myself when I hear console gamers arguing about what is the more powerful console. I smile to myself when I hear people praising the brilliance of the digital distribution platforms of the various app stores.
I tut to myself when people pay for mobile apps for long-time free browser games. I remark to myself at the limitations that my console friends play their games under, and I sigh to myself when my casual gaming friends aren’t as enthusiastic as me when the Summer Steam Sale starts.
The keywords in all of those comments are ‘myself’ because as a PC gamer, up untill now I have been comfortable that my chosen platform is the ultimate gaming platform. But this year something unexpected happened. A door was opened and a sign put up that said ‘all gamers are welcome here’.
Windows 10 was released and it became clear that Microsoft was embracing all gamers – PC gamers, console gamers and casual gamers – with this new platform.
With the new operating system Windows 10, universal game apps and cloud saving mean users can start playing a game on a PC and pick up where they left off on their Xbox One – and potentially only have to pay for the game once (depending on the developer).
If you wanted to, you could stream a game from your Xbox One to your Windows 10 tablet whilst lying in bed. If you wanted to, you could bolster the number of opponents in your aging competitive game with the Xbox One community. ‘If you wanted to – nothing is being forced, nothing is changing the way you currently play – and that is great.
Windows 10 doesn’t necessarily do anything revolutionary for people who only play games on their PC (although DirectX12 is incredible), but they are now being represented as a part of the core audience that Microsoft wants to address and this can definitely only be good for the future.
Windows 10 has done something beautiful. It is bringing together PC, mobile and console gamers to form a single coherent audience with no distinctions, and it doesn’t do this with an ultimatum – but with a choice.
With the direction Windows 10 is heading in, I will soon no longer be a PC gamer – but just a gamer.
Disclaimer: Although I work for Microsoft, this article is my own personal view and doesn’t
necessarily represent Microsoft’s views or opinions.
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