Markus 'Notch' Persson speaks out against Windows 8 again

Last month, some of the biggest names in the gaming industry had spoken out against Windows 8 because of the ‘walled garden’ approach that Microsoft is taking with the Windows 8 Marketplace. Some of these big names included Markus “Notch” Persson, Gabe Newell and John Carmack. Now, according to Eurogamer, Notch has once again spoken out against Windows 8.

Notch speaks out against Windows 8 again

Back in August during QuakeCon, John Carmack had spoken out against Windows 8 in his keynote speech. Carmack mentioned that they started working on Windows 7 directly after XP, and that they had skipped Windows Vista entirely. "Hardly anyone at id used Vista." When Windows 7 was released, Carmack added, it was a bit more attractive because it did some things better and faster. So there was no reason for him to consider switching to Windows 8. He said that no one in his team has worked on Windows 8 yet. However, his team intented to do so, because the launch of Doom 3: BFG Edition was very close to that of Windows 8.

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Carmack stated that while he has much more respect for Microsoft than others, he has some doubts about the new touch-based UI in Windows 8, and whether it will be successful. He also said he is “kind of excited” about the Surface tablet.

Carmack joined the growing list of important game developers that are not keen on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS. Earlier, Notch had spoken out about Windows 8 on a Q&A on Reddit. "If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general," Notch said during the Q&A. "If we can keep open platforms around, there's going to be a lot of very interesting games in ten years, mixed in with the huge AAA games that we all love."

CEO of Valve, Gabe Newell had spoken about how the upcoming OS would be bad for gaming in an interview with VentureBeat. Newell said that many don't realise "how critical games are” when it comes to choosing an operating system for a consumer. “The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior,” he said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. ...[W]e’re trying to make sure that Linux thrives. Our perception is that one of the big problems holding Linux back is the absence of games... I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space. I think that we’re going to lose some of the top-tier PC [original equipment manufacturers]. They’ll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people.”

Blizzard VP Rob Pardo had also stated his concern over Windows 8. "[N]ice interview with Gabe Newell," Pardo tweeted. In reference to Newell's prediction that Windows 8 would be a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space, Pardo said, "[N]ot awesome for Blizzard either."