Windows Are we seeing the death of Windows for PC gaming?

The PC gaming market has seen some pretty big announcements in the last year.

Since I've started gaming I've been on Windows. Linux didn't have direct x so it just didn't have the large titles like battlefield/COD or CSS. Now with the announcement of steam OS and the new mantel API AMD are pushing will we see the death of Windows and direct x for gaming?

Personally I think it would be a welcome change. For years direct x has held up gaming (I'm looking at you dx 9)

I know it will take a while for things to get started but what do you think gaming for us PC games will be like in 5 years?

 

That all depends first and foremost on engine support for Linux/OpenGL/SteamOS - Unreal, CryENGINE etc.

Mantle is born dead, unless AMD ports it to NVIDIA cards. No one will ignore the bigger part of the discrete graphics card market on PC (NVIDIA), and except the gigants, no one will have time/budget to create a special version for Mantle, like DICE does with BF4.

 

Whoops - missed the point - nothing to see here!

 

DirectX wont die (sadly) as even in a world without Windows you would still have it being used by the XBox, and afaik Mantel would be used along with DirectX, OpenGL for when Dev's want/need better control over what their code is doing.
But it is possible we are seeing the beginning of the end of Windows being the go to OS for gaming, and rightly so as Microsoft have neglected gaming on the PC for a long time now, from XP onwards Microsoft seemed to have forgotten who and what made there OS so popular.

@faugusztin, I dont think its up to AMD to port it to NVIDIA cards, i think its up to NVidia as isnt Mantel open source ?

 

But why would NVIDIA do that, they are not interested in success of Mantle .

 

It would be nice if there was a realistic alternative to the windoze platform, but unfortunately it doesn't exist. It's not just games, its all the other apps you need for a PC, so you would still need windows for certain things, which then begs the question of 'why bother?' when you can already play the games anyway on a 'more supported' platform. There is no advantage as far as I can see?

 

IDK im not NVidia Seriously though i can only guess as a lot depends on how much of an advantage Mantel brings, if AMD, Mantel Games really do bring the advantages claimed i cant see NVidia just letting AMD take such a lead in frame rates.

 

In 5 years time we will all have personal air vehicles and cars will hover above the road. The PC will still be here and Blackberry will have been bought out by Apple since both companies are food based.

The desktop PC will continue to shrink. There will be a nano form factor the size of a packet of cigarettes (I don't agree with smoking in any way but a packet of cigarettes is the closest I can think of to describe the new nano form factor). There will still be overclocking even though the nano PC will have everything welded in.

Linux will finally become the OS that Linux worshippers hoped it would be and Gabe Newell will have played a significant part in that.

Microsoft will continue to release new versions of windows but their RRP will increase to cover development costs. Windows will no longer retail at £198 but £500 for the home basic version rising to £900 for the home premium. Their new pricing strategy will be their idea of "competing" against the entirely free Linux and Steam OS. Their justification for the price hike will be that windows ships with Skype and the MS App store.

Noel Edmonds will have retired from Television and from Deal or Noel Deal. Channel 4 will try to replace him with Bruce Forsyth but the show will have poor ratings and end up being scrapped.

Tablet computers will be fast enough to do 3d CAD/Raytracing.

 

Worth noting also that gaming has been creeping back to Linux and Mac recently, this time with official endorsement - from Valve. I think Microsoft have taken the monopoly on PC gaming too much for granted, and suddenly there are holes everywhere. They could still patch it up, but their pouring of effort into the XBO suggest they won't bother to try. They might just concede it and let Valve have the PC gaming market.

 

I've been considering switching to a Macbook for work (for portability over anything else) but even then it would be a long time before I got rid of Windows for gaming. Steam OS will I'm sure be awesome if the only games you ever play are on Steam and work on Linux but I can't see that being the case for the majority for a while yet.

 

I would love to see gaming come to the open source world - not the games but the underlying software like drivers and kernel. If Microsoft continue as they are doing now, not addressing the wants and needs of their users, then it could eventually result in the focus of gaming moving over to Linux. However, if Microsoft start offering Windows at a competitive price, with the features that users really want, then I think that Gaben will have a fight on his hands to convince the gaming industry to switch.

If the SteamBox is a success, then along with indie developers (who usually release multi-platform games) big developers will start to use the technologies available on Linux. Eventually it will become economically viable for them to start producing a Linux version at the same time - with Windows, Mac and Linux versions available, all for the same price (much like how Steam does it at the moment). At this point Linux will become more appealing to games, especially new gamers. It will take a while, but it might just happen.

Even now some major games are being ported across to Linux. Look at Metro: Last Light for an example.

 

Linux the future heard that before someplace. Quick check of the next 2 big pc games in terms of sales cod and bf4 niether will see a Linux native port.

Linux needs a big name game that it can use as a showcase. Metro last light is not it.

Direct x was the savior of pc gaming in the late 90s in 2013 I dou't its the death knell some would have it as. From another low level API called glide. Glide failed because the market moved on and it was locked to 1 set of cards ( 3dfx voodoo) if AMD want mantle to succeed then nvidia cards must also offer support of this API.

 

Meanwhile on planet earth Windows moves further away from features users want while still costing £70

Imho Microsoft would do well to pay attention to the gaming community a bit more than it has done in the last six years. They may not be the largest market, but the gaming community has always played a pivotal role in pushing both software and hardware forward.

The corporate sector couldn't care less about faster, better, newer as the number one priority for them is cost. The tablet, phone sector is a fickle bunch more swayed by fashion than what device is actually better, and are likly to dump your product when the next must have device comes out.

 

At last, a reality check.

What Linux needs is a bit more than one big game, maybe EA offering a Linux version of all its games, something like that might cause Microsoft to raise its snout from the trough ...until then forget it.
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As for Microsoft not doing enough for gamers, what should they be doing that they are not?

My windows based PC already blows away the PS4 which hasn't even been released yet.

 

Basically.

 

I think it boils down to how much money will it make the developers and publishers. Windows is a strong platform although sometimes irritating with all of the red tape about. Most of the AAA developers aren't willing to make the jump to linux because really, there's probably not going to be enough extra profit for all of the hard work involved.

 

So you are telling me that it isn't possible to have a PC without Windows because of the programs on it. Well I am here to inform you that, while there may be certain apps that are specific to Windows, I'd wager that what most people do with their computers, except gaming, could be done on a nix based system.

 

iPad stole what Linux would of been useful for. A low memory low bandwidth internet machine.

Linux is still way to complicated for the average user who can bearly use windows. Gamers are a tiny portion of the industry. Linux gamers are in the 0.1% range of those said gamers. I've tried enough of Linux to suggest it could be great. Still a lot missing, usability and ease of use been a major 2 as far as the general population sees it as.

 

OSX is great and widely used by the "average user".

And many Linux distros are much easier to use than Windows. I recently dropped Mint onto a machine for my parents. They are doing everything they need on it. Editing docs, photos, whatever. (They actually couldn't edit photos before but now they do.)

I get a lot less shouts for help than I did with Windows on it.
Setting up my network printer for it took 2 clicks. I still haven't managed it on my 7 machine.
I didn't have to install any drivers.
Software centre is great for easy to install software.

I realise I sound like a nix zealot, but I do still run Windows and love Windows phone. nix based systems just made my life easier.

 

Can you quote me saying its not possible? ...I am saying there is currently no realistic alternative to windows and there doesn't look like being one for the foreseeable future.

Well I can do everything on Windows that I can on Nix ...including gaming. Win 1 Nix 0

There is no bigger platform than windows, it is better supported(+more apps and more variations of those apps) than all other os(incl nix) put together, the community will need better reasons before they move off the windows platform.