| Mail |

You might also like: WoW Insider, Massively, and more

More Sites You Might Like

Microsoft appoints new Games for Windows boss

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Jan 27th 2009 5:30PM

Congratulations, Ron Pessner! You've been chosen by Microsoft to head up the Games For Windows Live division and step into the shoes of one Chris Early, who recently became the victim of our terrible "layoffs" tag. It says here you've come from the Entertainment and Devices division, and will be joined by Microsoft Games Studios' Dave Luehmann, who will oversee development and publishing for Windows games.

That's right, Ron, they have games on Windows now. To be fair, you undoubtedly boast a keen awareness of the matter, as Microsoft claims to be pursuing success for its PC gaming platform with renewed vigor. According to a statement published on Gamasutra, the company hopes to further "invest in Windows as a first–class gaming platform through great Windows out of box experiences," not to mention a variety of online services like LIVE and MSN games.

And hey, you're taking over at a point where Games for Windows Live is free. That has to be easier compared to the last guy.

Source

Tags: Dave-Luehmann, Games-for-Windows, Games-For-Windows-Live, Microsoft, PC, Ron-Pessner, Windows

Reader Comments (38)

yes you should begin milking old classic like age of empires

They just shut down Age of Empires' long-time developer.

D'oh!

Now, one screw up and you're hitting the streets!

Wait, did you just screw up? Yeah....they're watchin'.

I'm imagining it as Darth Vader force choking all the Admirals that dissapoint him, and then promoting the first man he sees to the position.

Is there such a thing as "force-bating"?

Microsoft, activate that secret DRM chip and all the devs will flock back. Simple as that.

They've just been half-assing their efforts on Games for Windows up to this point. Like i said before, they need to get on with what their goal has to be: convergence.

Build the two brands together, and they'll have a winning ticket, playing off what is Microsoft's golden idol of "average consumers are pretty much forced to buy it" Windows

Poor guy. He probably really liked it in the mail room.

Yeah, have fun with that Ron. You're going to need something big, and fast to fix the horrible that is "Games for Windows LIve". Though, at least it is free. I guess.

Windows will finally get some games?! Oh, goody. That'll that other company.... Mac, wasn't it?

"that'll show* that"

Damn you brain. Why have you ruined my sarcasm?

Sir Buzz Killington approves of your brain.

you are NOT Buzz Killington you impostor! Where is your monocle?!?!?

Jake, let's just say that the breasts in his avatar aren't real...

The Beast has spoken

So I guess this guy's getting paid significantly less than the previous one? Jeez...real nice, they should have just lowered the salary of the previous guy.

That involves a lot of assumptions. How the pay scale existed between the two and what the other guy felt about the idea of lowered pay. Maybe they offered that and he said no. Also, maybe they wanted a new guy for the reasons they said before...for change.

Yeah, but I assume he was getting paid a lot and could have taken a pay cut.

I could be wrong.

Hey, you wanna know how to make people care about Games for Windows? Tell Epic and Lionhead to bring their shit to the PC. Stop cannibalizing your own sales just to make the claim that a certain game is a "360 Exclusive"

It's true for GTA4 as well.

They extensively advertise the PC version, and then a couple of months later extensively advertise DLC which is only for the 360 version.

As someone posted in the article about the guy Ron's replacing - GfW Live needs more integration with the rest of live. I mean, they have the biggest chat application on the planet - why aren't they offering a GfWL client added onto Messenger/Mail?

A better store, and support for third-party servers in multiplayer games wouldn't hurt either..

Microsoft just needs to buy Valve, and then, beyond throwing money at them, absolutely keep their dirty, corrupting paws off of them in all matters... except perhaps getting them to create a new version of Steam that looks nice and integrated with windows aero and comes installed with windows, and acts as the form of copy protection for all GFW games (like Valve's own games, you buy it retail, but activate through Steam).

That would be a perfect world.

I promise you, there is no perfect world in which Microsoft owns Valve, regardless of the criteria for such an ownership.

No, no, no.

We do not want Microsoft owning Valve.

Why can't Microsoft just copy what Valve has done with Steam?

Why can't they just let it rest and have everyone use Steam. I don't need or want any more clients.

yea, seriously. I just want one client.

Microsoft dropped the ball a long time ago with the DLC client, and delivering a half-assed attempt now isn't exactly scoring them a lot of points.

How about more 360-PC cross multiplayer games?

Most multiplayer is done in strategy, MMO or shooter genres, in which the mouse gives a fairly hefty advantage to PC users.

So this would involve a lot of annoying measures to balance it. However, racing and fighting games would work very well - or you could just force PC users to use the 360 pad in order to play cross-platform on shooters.

Yeah, Resident Evil 5 would be improved with PC/360 option for co-op.

How about making it work for starters, then you can start on not making it suck ass.

1. Make it work like XBL
2. Make it work like Steam
3. Either of the above
4. All of the above

Any of those solutions is acceptable.

6. Ditch it and let me use steam for all of my games.

To add another side note to the option:

**Let it remain free to play online!!!

Let's hope this one is less of a complete dunce. GFW is dead. PC Gaming is fine and well on Steam, but suffering terribly at retail, no small part due to the stillbirth that was GFW.

This should be in the PC Tab in Joystiq

Oh wait.....

Why not make one large network for your one-stop-digital-shop-online-thingy? Combine Zune Marketplace, Games for Windows, X-Box Live and then give the new network a new name . Buy music, movies, and games all in one place. You can also transfer all your media between your MP3 player, Computer, Console or any storage device. Easy to manage and convince for the customer!

Invest in Steam and build it into Vista/Windows 7. Get people playing ALL games on Windows, not just shooters or RTS that Games for Windows has been targeting. Put Peggle on every install of Windows 7 and make Steam running a requirement for launching it.

Am I the only person familiar with games that works in marketing?

Breaking News

Microsoft appoints new Games for Windows boss

Reader Comments (38)

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 5:36PM Gamer said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:12PM Haggard said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 5:40PM Duke said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:02PM Hyams said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:27PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 5:44PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 5:50PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 5:54PM falcomadol said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:04PM Deck said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:07PM BigD145 said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:08PM BigD145 said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:14PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:53PM Sora said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:09PM Angel Mass said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:14PM JoshMilewski said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:19PM Duke said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:21PM JoshMilewski said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:14PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:23PM Haggard said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:15PM Haggard said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 11:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 12:32AM Courtney said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 4:28AM Vanillacide said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:27PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:37PM iHavePants said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 10:14PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:29PM RKN said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:56PM Haggard said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 4:30AM Vanillacide said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 6:39PM XGM said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 7:11PM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 7:34PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2009 7:45PM Avolii said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 12:07AM player66 said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 12:54AM Lekko said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 1:10AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 28th 2009 11:23AM ScottG13 said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW