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Not only is Microsoft wanting to be one of the new boys in town in the social networking arena, with their new Microsoft Live platform; they are also planning to muscle in on the digitally distributed PC gaming market.

General manager for Windows Live, Chris Early, confirmed in an interview with ShackNews that Microsoft does indeed have concrete plans to dole out full PC titles.  They will be doing this through their Marketplace application, and with this move, will be attempting to play with the big boy in the PC gaming realm, Steam.

Granted, they have a bit of a leg up when you think of the huge number of PCs that run Windows, so they already have the leading platform.  But, Steam and Valve also have both built themselves a rather dedicated user base that love what they have to offer.  Microsoft?  Not so much.  Even Microsoft has to realize that knocking them out of the top position would be a tough task indeed.  That’s probably why they are instead trying for an area where Steam is “lacking.”  They are going to try to build a marketplace built around things Steam doesn’t offer, thus, the Windows Live branded downloadable content (DLC), which will be available exclusively through Microsoft.

Microsoft released a new Games for Windows Live update yesterday, improving the interface.  Another update is supposed to be arriving in a couple of weeks, which will add support for video, demos, and DLC downloads.

By coming out with DLC support before full distribution, Microsoft hopes to exploit the fact that Steam features no priced DLC.  So, for example, even though GFW’s Live’s Fallout 3 can be sold on Steam, Fallout 3’s DLC will only be found on Microsoft’s GFW Live Marketplace.

Microsoft is really trying to elbow in on all there is computer related.  It’s either gonna tick people off (“oh hail the God of the Internet, Microsoft!”), or they just may have enough muscle to make it work.  It will be interesting to see how this game plays out.

via [cnet]