Can any company launch a AAA game for pc properly?

The latest to join the fail at launching a AAA game for pc is none other than microsoft, makers of windows, with gears of war ultimate edition to sum up this fail gamespot

"More than half a year after its Xbox One release, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has come to PC for Windows 10 and although the game's core is intact, complete with controls and level design that raised the bar for third-person shooters in 2006, the technical issues are far more pervasive on PC: we played on two different rigs, and both exhibited their own disparate problems."

half a year, what were they testing? maybe there are just too many configurations for pc.

Sure they can. Microsoft can't. Not because they aren't capable of it but because they actively chose not to. They had a perfect opportunity to develop and provide a good gaming and distribution platform. There's plenty of already existing models out there which they could have emulated. Steam, Origin, Uplay, Battle.net etc. but they made the decision to try and control their market and lock down their product and it has suffered terribly as a result.

Far Cry Primal today, also launched with severe issues it seems...

@R4gn4r0k: That is standard practice for Far Cry games and Ubishit titles.... and yes, it is unacceptable. This is particularly embarrassing for MS as they are technically a first party developer for the Windows Store platform and they failed to release a properly working game to showcase it.

Hmmm, I played AC: Syndicate day one without any problems.

I also think its wrong to consider this standard practice. We should always hold companies accountable for releasing something broken and asking money for it. Saying its standard practice is like brushing this under the carpet.

It is standard practice in the sense that they can not be trusted and it should be no surprise that it is broken. Never buy a Ubisoft title at launch. People should stop pre-ordering games too and wait for reviews or feedback that it is worthwhile. Make the developers earn your money.

Feels like the gaming industry in many ways is collapsing under its own weight. The kickstarter guys are doing amazing things but these big-budget publishers and developers are dropping the ball literally every chance they get. Could it be any more obvious that every publisher is attempting to get every game out the door with as little funding and time possible?

The reason why it happens is that nobody here really has a problem with it. Things will continue to just go down-hill. How can it not? Too many people support bad business practices - this is the world we live in. If I ran a game publishing business I'd do the same thing. There are too many suckers with money out there for me to be convinced that I'd need to deliver a quality product.

The WIndows Store exclusive part is like shooting yourself in the foot. Good thing I don't care about GoW

I would love to play it on PC, along with some other Xbox titles, but yeah... That Windows Store part of it is gross.

Do you have to also have Xbox Live for Windows Store games?

WTF does AAA even mean any more?

Big ass budget is about the only thing I see

@R4gn4r0k: Some people are calling it. Ubisoft Error Message Simulator 2016.

keep these game on steam, windows store sucks and cant even compete with other distributors like origin, uplay and steam

Most games made exclusively for PC, or developed "in parallel" work out fine. I feel like it's just these half-assed efforts by mega-companies that had PC as an afterthought that are so bad

Exactly. We better start voting with our wallets.