![]() If developers wouldn’t make games for Linux, Valve decided it would invest in making Windows games run on Linux instead. After Steam Machines died, something much more momentous-and the key to the Steam Deck’s existence-rose from their ashes. You don’t stop planning for a catastrophe just because you run into some road bumps. In December, 2013, Valve introduced SteamOS to the masses. While Notch ironically sold Minecraft to Microsoft for $2.5 billion just a couple of years later, Newell and Valve reacted to the “catastrophe” the way most sane folks would: Disaster prep, so they wouldn’t be caught flat-footed if Microsoft decided to clench its fist around the open PC ecosystem. Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson told Microsoft to “ stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform” when it asked him to certify the game for Windows 8. Newell called it “ a giant sadness.” Blizzard executive VP Rob Pardo tweeted that Windows 8 is “ not awesome for Blizzard either” in the wake of Newell’s ‘catastrophe’ comment. (RT quickly fizzled.)ĭevoted PC game developers felt especially anxious. Their concerns were escalated by the simultaneous launch of Windows RT, an Arm-based version of Windows that restricted users to using only software sanctioned by the Windows Store. Developers feared Microsoft would become increasingly draconian in its rules. More ominously, the Windows Store launched alongside the operating system, with strict requirements about the sorts of software allowed and a steep gatekeeper fee similar to what Apple and Google charge for inclusion in their app stores. Windows 8 bent over backwards to make mobile UI a priority, relegating the desktop to “just another app” status in a screen full of colorful tiles. ![]() Windows 8’s radical new ‘Start Screen’ was…divisive, to say the least. ![]()
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