Digital distribution, DLC for games on the agenda, says Unangst

Microsoft is keen to establish a service similar to Xbox Live Marketplace on the Games for Windows Live platform.

"You can be confident we want to enable things like digital distribution, the ability to do downloadable content for games - that's a direction we're definitely headed in," GfW senior global director Kevin Unangst told our sister site Eurogamer in an interview published today.

"We don't have anything specific to announce in terms of timeframes right now."

Unangst also reflected on some of the lessons learned during Games for Window's first year. "Going out of the gate, we weren't as clear as we should have been that Games for Windows Live on the PC is free," he admitted.

"You don't have to pay for Gold. If you want to play cross-platform games, that's when you need a Gold subscription...

"We were not as clear as we could have been. People assumed we were trying to bring the Xbox model over to the PC, which we were not."

Unangst said Microsoft would "continue to invest" in Games for Windows, which apart from giving its games an Xbox Live-style service layer with friends lists, Achievements and the like, also insists that games be easy to install, support widescreen displays and include parental controls.

The full interview, including Unangst's views on the PC Gaming Alliance, can be read here.