Microsoft: Games for Windows Live had a "rocky start," but will "continue to get better"

Microsoft has promised that Games for Windows Live will "continue to get better," despite its "rocky start," once more developers adopt the platform.

Speaking in an interview with CVG, Microsoft's interactive entertainment business Kevin Unangst said that the "rocky start," was due to the service begin designed as "a partner to the console service more than the PC service."

"The service started with the right intent, which was to bring Achievements, friends, multiplayer gaming and matchmaking in a really great way to PC," he said. ""I think because it was designed originally as a partner to the console service more than the PC service, we had a rocky start.

"We also didn't back it up with the most important thing, which is doing fantastic games to take advantage of the service. A network by itself isn't valuable - there needs to be great games to take advantage.

"I think the underpinnings are great, I think it's going to continue to get better. We launched a new Marketplace which was great, we're selling Live and non-Live enabled games. We're also seeing developers get back to development. Epic did a great job of promoting Live with Bulletstorm. They're pleased with the platform and the service is going to continue to get better over time."

Unangst said the GFW Live service will continue to evolve thanks to input from developers such as Lionhead Gas Powered Games.

"The Age of Empire team has got a lot of great input and the same can be said for Lionhead, who said 'we're going to build Fable 3 on the PC' and know what they want out of the service," he said.