Valve’s Gabe Newell says Windows 8 is a catastrophe

Gabe Newell is head of the Valve corporation, the company that brings you Steam and a whole bunch of Source engine based games. He also used to work at Microsoft a very long time ago. Now he’s got some very harsh words for his former employers, stating that Windows 8 is “a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space” and “we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people”.

The harsh words said at the videogame conference Casual Connect in Seattle aren’t totally unexpected from Gabe Newell, a widely recognised critic of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Newell strongly favours Linux, and he argues one of the main thing keeping people away from Linux is the lack of support for games. Although Valve is now working tirelessly to try and port as many games as possible to Linux, a move Newell describes as a “hedging strategy” for the eventual decline of Windows 8 – “it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality” said Newell.

Some might sit by and assume Gabe Newell is just an innocent bystander who has no interest financially in how Windows 8 plays out, but this is simply not the case. Valve makes most of its money through the Steam Store selling games and getting commission, should the new Windows 8 store feature game integration, possibly with Live and Xbox Live too, then Valve could have a game selling rival on its hands.

Newell further criticises the upcoming Windows release stating it threatens the openness of the PC platform, he believes Windows 8 is being developed in a way that keeps the benefits of it in a small closed group. Newell stated that developers “look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors” access to the platform, and they say “That’s really exciting”.

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