Former Valve Boss Has Joined Microsoft

Jason Holtman was one of the figures at Valve that pushed the company’s digital distribution system, Steam. After eight years of turning Steam from the butt of jokes to perhaps the biggest digital games marketplace today, Mr Holtman left Valve in February.

However he hasn’t stayed away from the industry for too long, finding a new position at Microsoft to, it appears, improve gaming on Windows. In a statement to GamesIndustry, he said:

“Yes, I have joined Microsoft where I will be focusing on making Windows a great platform for gaming and interactive entertainment,” he said. “I think there is a lot of opportunity for Microsoft to deliver the games and entertainment customers want and to work with developers to make that happen, so I’m excited to be here.”

This appointment is actually very interesting. Games For Windows doesn’t have the best of reputations, and it’s pretty much been left on the backburner by Microsoft while the core of the gaming is focused on the Xbox brand.

However, this could signal that Microsoft are going to really push to compete with the likes of Steam, Origin and GOG.com. Maybe it could even herald a future link between Games For Windows and the Xbox One, so both the PC and console can share one marketplace.

For now though we’ll just have to wait and see what Holtman’s hiring brings.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

2 Comments

  1. Some cross platform games would be good.

  2. I do not want a competitor with Steam, I don’t like any of the ones we have now. The best thing he could do is sacrifice Games for Windows Live to whatever god will forgive Microsoft for it and start a load of Xbox exclusives making their way to PC.

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