By releasing DirectX 10 exclusively for Vista to lure gamers into adopting its latest OS, Microsoft has committed a serious marketing mistake, according to the head of Valve Software.

Gabe Newell, president of Valve Software told heise.de that “Microsoft made a terrible mistake releasing DirectX 10 for Vista only and excluding Windows XP. He said this decision affected the whole industry as so far only a very small percentage of players can use DirectX 10.”

Gamers have shunned using Vista because the OS still lacks hardware support and there are fewer games available to take the advantage of the newer DirectX.

Hardware support for Vista and DirectX 10 are perceived behind but are expected to catch on.

Most game developers are not keen on developing new games specifically for Vista. They generally aim to develop cross-platform games that can be released to a wider market.

In the recent surveys conducted by Valve Software, it was found that only one in fifty players who access download service Steam has a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card and Windows Vista installed.

While the initial adoption of Vista might not have been what Microsoft expected for, the problems on hardware and software support will certainly be reduced over the coming months.

It will also be interesting to see how the consumers and industry, particularly gamers and game developers, react after the release of Vista SP1, which is supposedly scheduled for later this year.

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Related:

Windows Vista fails to win over gamers

PC gamers will need new hardware for Vista SP1

Is DirectX 10 on Vista a ripoff?

Vista may be Worth DirectX 10 Alone for Gamers

Microsoft concedes that Vista (may have) failed

Entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 11:59 pm under Vista.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Ruben Francia.