So as we know Windows Platform Apps and WinUI3 apps do not work on Linux, I keep wondering if Microsoft were to launch a new API let’s say direct X 15 but limit it to Windows Store Apps, and provided a way for the apps to be installed from other stores like steam could they in time kill modern Linux gaming.
@skymtf Well yes and no. Technically they probably could, but they’d likely incur the wrath of the EU doing so. That said if they were interested in a locked environment, they could have just never started porting Xbox games to PC.
What if they made an API allowing 3rd party stores, but the same security methods. Like MS would do this for the sole reason to kill device like the steam deck
even then Microsoft would not survive the EU as these changes you mention are solely to gatekeep gaming to their platform.
Also given Vulkan being pretty on top of things, HDR FSR/DLSS, Raytracing; Devs could simply opt to use the non-propritary interface.
Also, besides the EU, Microsoft would get A LOT of flak from digital Store Front Vendors like Steam, Epic, Blizzard Activision, EA…
I bought Gears 4 from the Windows store - they sold it as an exclusive there. We are not under any threat from that.
The store is clunky, it works about 40% of the time, it constantly needs updates, and there’s an install limit of 10 times before you have to buy it again. Even if they locked a tech like DirectX behind it developers wouldn’t use it.
I mentioned this in a lower comment but im also curious if they made an API allowing apps like steam to install WinUI3 apps would the same be true.
I suspect if they let steam do it there is nothing stopping steam from running it on Linux as well, provided the usual compatibility features such as proton wouldnt be deliberately incapacitated by Microsoft; which in turn would piss off valve a lot because of the steam deck and OS.
They invested heavily in their Linux fork and compatibility suite, if windows store were to fuck with that I suspect they would be on the losing end. Steam users are very loyal to the company and by default extremely hostile to proprietary fuckery.
They invested heavily in their Linux fork and compatibility suite, if windows store were to fuck with that I suspect they would be on the losing end.
This was why Valve invested in Linux and Proton. Microsoft talked about forbidding installation of Windows applications from outside their store under the guise of security.
and there’s an install limit of 10 times before you have to buy it again.
lol, wut?
it’s not true.
while there is a 10 device ‘limit’, that refers to how many linked devices you can have. you can remove one to add another. info and how to do that
I think the time to do that has already passed; the Steam Deck and even Linux gaming in general has really taken off, so it would impact far more people than before. In addition, I think the EU has started breathing down their neck and will pounce on them if they do anything so blatantly monopolistic.
So this hypothetical “Direct X 15” would be limited to only Windows 11 users outside of europe, and the games wouldn’t be distributable through Steam. I can’t see that being a good pitch to developers, even if DirectX15 was really good.
They also tried this waay back in Windows 8 with the Windows Store, and it honestly was a flop.
Never underestimate the fleeting willpower of gamers in the face of exclusivity deals. It’s already captured a large section of the market (xbox consoles literally just run modified windows now) and will likely capture more. It’s all about adding enough of a marketing spin on it until the average gamer stops caring, or concedes the value proposition or their morals in favor of something they want more (like a next gen Skyrim reboot or something idk 🤷♂️)
Aside from the reasons stated by other people in this thread, purely destroying something isn’t really Microsoft’s MO. Theirs is Extend, Embrace, Extinguish Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
You got that the wrong way round. It’s Embrace first, then Extend and Extinguish.
They tried. It was called UWP, but it never caught on and Microsoft quickly realized nobody wanted to use their store or even bother with the new format, so all their games also have a normal x86 version.
Their main mistake was never trying to make their walled garden not suck ass. I would try to install things from the windows store just to see about it back when I was running windows and it took an infernally long time to open the store, search for an app, and then install that app.
it took an infernally long time to open the store, search for an app, and then install that app.
After about a year of Linux and using package managers/AUR to install and update software, it blows my mind to think that I would ever choose to do it a different way.
I don’t know how I put up with that shit for so many years.
