Microsoft is clashing with the PC gaming community again, with everyone from PC gamers to criticizing. Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of goodwill left in the PC gaming community, thanks especially to the disastrous “Games for Windows LIVE” service from a few years backand they’re worried history will repeat itself. RELATED: This isn’t just ancient history, though. Games for Windows LIVE still taints some PC games sold on Steam today, and helps explain why so many people are so skeptical of Microsoft’s PC gaming plans. Microsoft even had its own PC gaming store, just like the Windows Store today.

Windows, May 27, 2008. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition guide at StrategyWiki. All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE DRM.

The Beginning: Bringing Xbox LIVE to Windows, Including the Subscription Fee RELATED: Games for Windows LIVE debuted with Windows Vista. The first game to use Microsoft’s GFWL service was Shadowrun in 2007, followed by Halo 2 two days later. Both games only officially supported Windows Vista, but were later cracked to work on Windows XP–they didn’t actually need the latest version of Windows. Microsoft wanted to encourage gamers to upgrade to Vista, just as Quantum Break and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition are designed to encourage upgrades to Windows 10 today. Shadowrun featured between Windows Vista and Xbox 360 players. This was one of Microsoft’s big promised features a decade ago, just as cross-platform gameplay between Windows 10 and Xbox One is today.

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However, cross-platform play was left by the wayside. Universe at War: Earth Assault and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition supported cross-platform multiplayer around that time, but developers–even Microsoft’s own developers–avoided using it again. Even Microsoft’s own Halo 2, which GFWL practically launched with, didn’t support cross-platform play. Microsoft also announced that a “” feature would be part of GFWL before its release. This would allow you to insert a game on a disc into your PC and immediately start playing while it installs in the background, like you could on a console. Tray and Play never actually appeared in any games, and became. Games for Windows LIVE was tied to Xbox LIVE.

Everyone started with a Silver account. You could pay to upgrade to a Gold account, which cost $50 a year. A gold account was required for playing GFWL-enabled games online, just like Xbox LIVE Gold is required for playing Xbox games online.

Luckily, if you were already an Xbox user, you already had Gold–paying for either GFWL Gold or Xbox LIVE Gold got you both. But many PC gamers weren’t Xbox gamers, and this meant GFWL games has a subscription fee for the same multiplayer features other PC games offered for free. In 2008, Microsoft realized it wasn’t getting anywhere with this strategy and gave up on the subscription fees, for everyone in GFWL games. As it was tied to Xbox LIVE, GFWL games only fully work in the where Xbox LIVE is available. Try to play a GFWL-enabled game in another country and it won’t work.

Games for Windows LIVE Never Really Improves as Microsoft Neglects It Worse yet, Games for Windows LIVE didn’t work that well. It was annoying, and it still is annoying today if you play any games that contain GFWL. But the annoying interface is the least of many people’s concerns. GFWL is famous for.

Those save files are encrypted to help prevent gamers from copying them and easily getting worthless achievements, so you can’t copy them to a new computer as easily. I’ve personally had these problems with various games. Even if you were an Xbox user, GFWL’s Xbox integration could be annoying. If you were playing a GFWL-enabled game on your PC and someone powered on your Xbox 360 in the other room to watch Netflix, you’d be in trouble. You the same Xbox profile on both your Xbox 360 and PC, so something as simple as watching Netflix while you play a GFWL game was forbidden. GFWL did have some unique features, of course–GFWL games could have achievements that give you points towards your Xbox “gamerscore” so you could increase a completely arbitrary number only Xbox gamers really cared about.