The reboot of Microsoft’s Games for Windows Marketplace has proven once more that Microsoft is seemingly incapable of doing anything right for PC gamers. It should have marked a grand new beginning with its regular discounts on games in the store, new game offerings outside of the Games for Windows catalogue and even direct payments instead of those awful Microsoft points. Instead it has proven to be a confusing mess with ridiculous pricing outside of those few discount offers.
An excellent weekend deal offering Age of Empires 3 for just 10 cents had many gamers attempt a purchase on the new GfW Marketplace only to run into its main flaw: it only works in 7 countries. The website provides helpful “unsupported territory” messages to anyone outside Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom or the United States. And that’s only when using Internet Explorer, because any decent internet browser generates logout errors instead of the appropriate unsupported territory message.
The Games for Windows Marketplace application has also seen an update and curiously does support all territories. So while I couldn’t purchase AoE 3 for 10 cents on the new website, the application had no such qualms about my location.
This is made even more confusing by the fact that the GfW Marketplace website has seen a complete redesign. It now has a black tone and clearly highlights the currently discounted games and top sellers. Meanwhile the application has only seen a functionality update, because it’s still the same grey mess with no regard for discounted or featured games. So it initially seems like the application doesn’t yet support all the new Marketplace functionality, despite the fact that it’s the only properly functioning piece of the puzzle.
It may not look any different, but this is where the real new Marketplace is to be found
It is good to see Microsoft finally move away from their obnoxious Microsoft points construction. It’s now possible to purchase any game directly with a credit card and their actual value in the local currency is shown as opposed to the Microsoft points value. This does have the unfortunate side-effect of clearly demonstrating Microsoft’s 1 euro = 1 US dollar policy, which makes this yet another digital distribution service that non-British Europeans can safely ignore.
The new pricing isn’t anything to write home about either, because aside from the occasional discount deal there really isn’t anything special on offer. That Age of Empires 3 game I mentioned actually comes in at a ridiculous 39,99 euro now that the discount period is over and games like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Singularity and Splinter Cell: Conviction are all priced at 49,99 euro. Those games can be found in retail stores and web shops for less than half that price, which means the new Games for Windows Marketplace definitely isn’t going to attract anyone for its stellar pricing.
The Marketplace reboot has allowed Microsoft to somewhat catch up to its competition in a few key areas, but even so it still ranks well below any other digital distribution service out there in pretty much every regard. It doesn’t have the excellent pricing of EA Store, the huge catalogue of GamersGate, the payment methods of Steam or the myriad of bonuses found on Good Old Games. Games for Windows Marketplace still has a long way to go. So if this grand reboot is indicative of Microsoft’s plans for PC gaming, then they might as well stop here before they embarrass themselves any further.
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