Games for Windows Live boss among Microsoft layoffs

by Jason Dobson { Jan 26th 2009 at 9:30AM }

Chris Early, general manager for Games for Windows Live, has been listed among the casualties of Microsoft's first sweeping round of layoffs. While Microsoft has yet to make a formal announcement, VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi reports that emails to Early have bounced, and surmises that "more well-known managers will exit now there are fewer people to manage."

The former exec was first put in charge of GFWL in July 2007, and had been an evangelist for the platform since the early days of Live Anywhere. Takahashi ponders if this might signal the beginning of the end for service altogether, which despite a recent revamp has struggled to find acceptance. We wish Early the best of luck as we turn our heads skyward and wonder aloud if anyone in this economy is truly safe.

Tags: chris-early, games-for-windows, games-for-windows-live, layoffs, microsoft

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5th hot meal @ Jan 26th 2009 9:39AM

Oh well, at least he can get a proper job now.

5th hot meal @ Jan 26th 2009 9:42AM

Because Microsoft paid him a shed load of cash.

F1 @ Jan 26th 2009 9:44AM

Hows the conversations in your head going?

rockstargodzu @ Jan 26th 2009 1:01PM

How will he be able to afford ugly shirts now?! How I ask you!?!

5th hot meal @ Jan 26th 2009 9:42AM

Not anymore they don't.

5th hot meal @ Jan 26th 2009 9:44AM

wow, something positive has come out of the credit crunch!

Urza @ Jan 26th 2009 9:45AM

Not like Games for Windows Live means anything anyway.

Microsoft needs to bring the non-gaming functionality of Live to Windows. This means the dashboard needs to be a separate application from the games (like Media Center is a seperate app from Media Player.)

Let users log into Live without a game, send and receive messages, chat, and video. This would capture the Xbox users, even if those same users weren't using it for gaming. Once the install base is there, developers would have incentive to use it.

DBoyFlex @ Jan 26th 2009 10:15AM

You basically can do all of that via xbox.com. I know what you mean, having separate live software for PC, but there really isn't a need right now. With a PC, you have easy access to xbox.com to send messages, manage your account and MS points, and in game you can do that stuff also. So far that I can tell, the biggest thing you cannot do online is dress an avatar, and I do not know if they even have them yet for PC gaming. Maybe one day I guess. Now that people are getting laid off, I doubt anything new will come around any time soon. Maybe, though, this will speed things up somehow.

kastonie @ Jan 26th 2009 10:15AM

like steam?

Vcize @ Jan 26th 2009 10:56AM

Agree Urza.

It's not the same from the website. The interface is different, slower, and missing a lot of stuff. Also it doesn't show you as being online to your friends when browsing xbox.com, and you can't listen to voice messages of anything of that sort.

You should be able to jump into the PC version of Live (or leave it running even) without having to be playing a game.

Tiptup300 @ Jan 26th 2009 12:17PM

Make sure it's as snazzy as the zune marketplace though. I realize that the zune software is a little resource heavy, but if your using your computer for the latest games, you should be able to manage.

Alex Sohn @ Jan 26th 2009 9:46AM

Just a sign of the times, my guess is although he was a "face" of the platform, more then likely he was just middle management in terms of those below him and those above, those jobs are always some of the first ones to go.

Pureshooter @ Jan 26th 2009 9:49AM

**Deploys golden parachute, anvil pops out**

Zertoss @ Jan 26th 2009 9:54AM

Are you a walrus?

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Jan 26th 2009 10:05AM

even after the GFW revamp its still too little to late.....I'll be surprised if the service is around after this summer.....for it to have Succeeded it should have been FREE from the beginning.......Steam was just way better in a lot of peoples eyes.....

Sad dude lost his job tho.....but his division isnt doing anything.....thereby he needed to be axed.....curious as to if he has a parachute made of Gold tho......

ScottG13 @ Jan 26th 2009 10:12AM

Live is top notch on the 360. Its fairly pointless on a PC which already has the features it "promotes." Steam is the default gaming client platform. MSFT should accept that and promote it. Integrate Steam into Vista and W7.

Doug @ Jan 26th 2009 7:51PM

I think this might be the first step towards this. It's sad that he got fired, but I'm sure MS is now reconsidering Windows Live. I hope to see some improvements (and maybe integration) with the Windows Live format.
I wish you the best Chris.

SidearmS @ Jan 26th 2009 10:31AM

For those who are on here death knelling GFWL, at least try it. I wonder how of you guys actually have played a GFWL title.

I am one of those of folks who is part of the GFWL community, and we do not consider it a waste of time.

As for Steam, fandom is a wonderful thing. Steam does not let you play anything offline, and straight up RIPPED OFF the achievement system for TF2. The only thing Steam has for it is the amount of titles, nothing more. That can be changed.

The problem we have right now is getting standards in place. I am not talking about MODS, I mean the standard stuff on the 360 that works for gaming - dashboard, achievements, gamepad support, chat party. We want those features standard for PC games.

As for the piracy side of it, each GFWL windows title has a UNIQUE CD-KEY, meaning that without that, you can not log into Live. That does help sell a few more copies. Nothing earth shattering, but it is a noticable and trackable amount.

And do not even start about how much better Steam is when it is way more exploitable than Live is. I do not see Punk Buster or other anti-cheat programs for Live. It does not need them.

It is sad that the timing of this is so bad, Fallout 3 gets it DLC on the GFWL Marketplace this week. The Dawn Of War II beta also becomes available - and you don't need to buy a 7.50 download to play it.

We are trying to get other game publishers on board, and I will admit it is an uphill fight. But there is more than "8 of us" (that famous line from 1Up Yours), and the community is growing every day.

But Live enabled beats the pants off Steam. You take the games away from Steam, and you have just another resource hog client. When Steam does something more original than sell you something (and did not steal the feature from somewhere else), then I might give it the time of day.

You do not like GFWL? Fine. But know that there are people who do and like it more than Steam.

GFWL - When I see a GFWL title in your GT, then you can talk about the service. Until then, you know nothing.

AwesomeTown @ Jan 26th 2009 10:42AM

I'm really confused by your arguments, because Steam does let you play games offline, and I don't think GFWL needs to read your cd-key every time you log in. I can log into GFWL every time I load up Fallout 3 without my CD in the drive. I just shortcut to the other .exe file that skips the autoplay menu thing.

SidearmS @ Jan 26th 2009 12:20PM

You still have to log into Steam no matter what you do as far as I know. GFWL allows you to play and sign in to a GT offline, then when you can connect, it updates the GT info via Live. Steam is always there, you HAVE to have internet to even start your game, right? That has not changed. Steam is DRM in way, and DRM is never fun to deal with.

As for Fallout 3, what you mentioned is Besthesda's work around for the DRM check, nothing more.

As for the other post below me:

1. Let you sign into Live through a small background app on your PC - There is the marketplace client already. If you mean for friend's list and such, that is something we asked to be worked on.

2. Have achievements/gamerscore work on all games branded as G4W - The biggest problem we have had so far. But the publishers are starting to notice that we are here, and we are making headway. Dawn Of War II and the Fallout 3 DLC are the best examples we have of publishers who USE what is there. Achievements in your title do make a difference. So does gamepad support standard.

3. Allow you to message your LIVE friends who are on either XBL or G4W - you can do that with the GFWL ingame. If you mean when you are NOT playing a game, the 360 and PC already have MSN messenger, and there is talk of folding that in to itself for that very reason. See reason 1 above as well.

This relaunch is all of four months old. Steam had relaunches and updates as well. I think Steam after four months was in similar shape.

Last but not least, if Valve was bought out by MS, what then? You think Steam is going to survive the way it is? Nope, sorry. MS would change up Steam to suite themselves, not the Steam users who use it. What would happen if MS announced they had purchased Steam,and was converting all users over to GFWL?

GFWL - Good debate, and I do not mind having one of those.

AwesomeTown @ Jan 26th 2009 1:07PM

You only need to be online with Steam to check the CDKey/Register when you first install the game. (I assume it will do this automatically if you get a direct download through steam). You need to log into the steam client to play the game, but this can be done offline afterward.

But anyway, as an avid Xbox and PC user, I really like the GFWL service, but it needs to be much more widely adopted into PC games like you said. Also, the standalone client is a must. Basically, it should be steam, like WiNG said.

Duke @ Jan 26th 2009 10:33AM

Seriously, are you mentally ill? What's with the nonsense posts over and over?

On subject, it seems for this to have real functionality it needs to be wrapped in as part of other communication software so that its seamless. Make it a part of the messenger suite and other companies would be more interested in utilizing it I bet.

Obie @ Jan 26th 2009 10:36AM

I think this dude would have been fired regardless of the economy, seriously GWL was a turkey from the beginning.

Alien Lord @ Jan 26th 2009 10:43AM

I'm not to bothered by this, PC gaming lost it's charm years ago so I switched to consoles (mostly xbox, 360, and DS). Now a GOOD part of this report is they're laying off a manager, too often it's the lower guys who get let go and not managers.

Vidikron @ Jan 26th 2009 11:10AM

I don't think you read the article closely enough. Managers are being laid off because they already laid off many of the people under them. So the lower guys are already gone.

Joe Smith @ Jan 26th 2009 10:59AM

I could care less about GFWL as I almost never play games on a PC, but I met Chris at a conference once and he seemed like a really good guy. I am sure he'll land somewhere, and I doubt he is hurting for money, but it still sucks to get laid off. I wish him the best of luck as he moves on.

WiNG LifeinaGame.com @ Jan 26th 2009 11:00AM

I don't see how MS bungled G4W so badly. All they had to do was:

1. Let you sign into Live through a small background app on your PC
2. Have achievements/gamerscore work on all games branded as G4W.
3. Allow you to message your LIVE friends who are on either XBL or G4W.

As pointed out, it's basically STEAM. Hell, Steam is a better G4W live than G4W live is.

J.Goodwin @ Jan 26th 2009 11:11AM

This isn't that surprising. I wonder if this paves the way for Microsoft to buy Valve. Valve originally went to Microsoft to put together Steam, and they've been practically begging for someone to buy them out lately.

Ubiqutous Oxymoron @ Jan 26th 2009 11:12AM

Are people who post here limited to a single post? what about exercising his civil and constitutional rights to freedom of speech?

SeriousKriss @ Jan 26th 2009 11:58AM

Not very surprising. There's a good summary of Microsoft's hypocritical attitude towards PC gaming here: http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/end-of-an-era/

Duke @ Jan 26th 2009 12:14PM

What? I didn't squash or infringe on his right to free speech, I commented on his comments. His posts are nonsensical and I hate to burst your bubble, but the constitution does not protect freedom of speech in every form and venue - example: this is not a government owned/controlled website. They have the right to enforce their own terms and will, by deleting abusive comments, etc. (Of course, this matters little as nobody infringed on his rights in the first place.)

The 1st amendment is about government acts, not private acts - The constitutional guarantee isn't involved smartass.

Jeff @ Jan 26th 2009 1:15PM

While Games for Windows was garbage, I really hope it lasts-- the market needs it.

Steam has no serious competitors, and as a result, has not been innovating.

There's no reason Steam shouldn't be able to push more developers to utilize its Steamworks system for achievements; no reason why it can't allow access to a music player; and no reason a myriad of other futures the community has been begging for can't be realized.

Except that Valve only has a handful of employees working on Steam. It is by far the best option for PC gamers.. it could be significantly worse and that would STILL be true. That's why we need competitors-- so that Steam can get better.