Microsoft Presentation for Game Developers to Extend PC Games Lifecycles

If you’re a gamer on the Xbox 360 then you know how what DLC is and how it can expand a game that you have purchased for your console.

Downloadable Content can provide anything from additional maps, car, music tracks and play functionality to your favorite games.  DLC has obviously been very successful for Microsoft and its Xbox Live network as just about any game that comes out these days will get following on content.

Now this content is typically paid for but it can also be offered for free.  A great example of this is one of my favorite Xbox titles Burnout Paradise.  It came out on 22 January 2008 and the last set of DLC for it came out 11 June 2009.  That was 17 months of additional playability with both free and paid for downloads.

So why all this talk about DLC and Xbox Live? Well it is obviously a well established means of furthering the revenue a game can earn as well as the playability so Microsoft wants to bring that same extendibility to PC Games.

So they posted a PowerPoint presentation from GameFest 2010 that was held this past February that gives more details on how PC game developers can implement this capability in their games and enjoy the same type of returns on their game development.

The console gaming experience has been greatly enriched by downloadable content; through Games for Windows – LIVE (GFWL) it is possible to also bring these benefits to your PC game. By using downloadable content after a game’s release, you can increase profit, extend your game’s life at retail, and encourage users to keep playing. Learn how GFWL provides an easy way to advertise, sell, manage, verify, and load downloadable content without the user ever leaving the game. During this discussion, we cover reasons and statistics for using, implementation of, and best practices around using the GFWL Marketplace (including enabling an in-game store with a single API call). Get more life out of your game after its release by making Games for Windows – LIVE and downloadable content work for you!

The original briefing was presented by Cameron Goodwin who is the Lead Software Developer in Test on Games for Windows – LIVE.

Download the Life Support: Extend the Life of Your Game with Games for Windows – LIVE Marketplace.

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Richard Hay  (3349 Posts)

Richard is the Owner of WindowsObserver.com and has been involved in tech for over 25 years. His first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then he used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and what you see here today is the result of the work he has continued on the site since 1995. In January 2010 his community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when he was awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Windows Desktop Experience. In January 2011 he was renewed as a Microsoft MVP but in a new category called Windows Expert - Consumer and in January 2012 he received the award for the third time.