ReederOnTheRun
Posts: 301 +62
Okay, I'm going to set this straight because no one's pointed it out here.
What all these (3) publishers dis approve of is what they define as a "lock-down." They see Microsoft having their own Windows Store on the new start-up menu as the bane to their existence and Microsoft will not allow any 3rd party stores into the Metro-experience. All the publishers that want to publish something outside the Microsoft Store are forced to use the Classic View, while games published on the MS store directly embedded into the Metro interface.
Most of these publishers are NOT concerned about gamers, they are concerned about their profit margins. With Microsoft presenting their own store, MS takes a 30% cut on games for the first $25,000 MS make and 20% cut every sell after that. That's not a bad deal considering big box retailers generally take a 30-40% cut. Since the MS store is embedded directly into the OS, there is even a smaller likelihood that new users would track down other alternatives that may not work with the new OS natively.
Notch doesn't want to make Minecraft Windows 8 Certified because it would require the game to be on the Microsoft store. I personally disagree with Notch's perspective in this regard because I believe the MS Store is a great way for Indie developers to get better facetime since it's directly integrated into the operating system, rather than having to rely on underground news sources. Notch is one of a lucky few indie developers that can do whatever he pleases regardless of what the public says because he made millions off his one game.
Valve & Blizzard on the other hand believe this effort undermines their individual stores.
Blizzard charges full price for games and gets the full cut, which is why I buy their products directly from Big Box Retailers because they are undermining my local economy and putting hundreds out of work through their digital sales.
Valve charges a price set by developers and takes a 35% cut of profits off the top. This puts Valve at a disadvantage to MS (whose fees are lower) and Steam is not compatible with the Metro interface. Valve is merely looking out for their best interests despite Windows 8's major overhaul of optimization in PC performance.
True story^