Is it because Windows have specific feature support for example: DirectX and XNA? also other support like huge community, windows OS is widely used, better hardware/software support and (more?) which it makes windows the best OS for game development use?
I think it's because they are cheaper to maintain and manage, and also apple technicians demand higher wages. Linux doesn't really come into it as it doesn't have many 'standard' development programs :/
I agree with brighty22, and yes DirectX and XNA is much better documented, and comes with (to my experience) more helpful community. My experience with OpenGL, comes to me as being difficult to learn, especial that the web is filled with out dated tutorials that don't work properly anymore. Also, it comes down to market share.
Mainly market share i would think >90% of the market is a windows OS. Also have the advantage of being able to port to xbox if using DX. I remember a long time ago openGL seemed to be more common but that changed somewhere around DX7/DX8 don't know why.
Microsoft launched an advertising campaign claiming lots of false things and the generals public believed it. OpenGL is more powerful, quicker and more efficient than Direct3D yet Direct3D has a larger market share because of positive feedback (the further something advances the faster it advances). Source: Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX But yes, as said in other posts, Windows has the best IDEs available, if not THE best IDE (Visual Studio). XNA sound good in theory but most games use C++ to squeeze the most performance out of an app, yet XNA uses C#. I never found C# a good language, thus I am trying to learn SDL and OpenGL to make games for pretty much every platform (except the XBox).
According to w3schools. 7.3% of their Visitors are Macs. That result will be bias however as there are a lot of web development programs for the Windows OS.
Most of the computer users in the world use Microsoft Windows as operating system. This means that Windows is the biggest market for game developers, so the game makers focus mostly on Windows. Those who make the tools which are useful for games also have the biggest market in Windows, because most of the games and most of the players are using Windows. If, for some reason tomorrow the majority of the world would decide to switch to another operating system, you can be sure that the majority of games and tools would be developed to the given operating system. So, here the answer if more of an economic answer, not a technical one.
Or you could code in Java and create a game that runs completely fine on all computing platforms. Just saying...
Windows without a doubt, it's no wonder already as only a few steam games work on MAC and; although I'm quite keen on certain linux distros. I can't be sure about games on it.
Err, while you are mostly correct there, Java isn't a great choice - given the overheads and the JVM's ravenous desire for RAM. Don't get me wrong, Eclipse is probably my favourite IDE, and I enjoy Minecraft, but C++ reigns supreme for game development. They all have their pros and cons depending on the scenario, and of course "Java vs C++" is quite an old argument.
Windows is the most popular (but not the best IMHO) platform simply because it has 90+% market share.
