Microsoft Games

Microsoft Games for Windows - LIVE (GFWL) is an online gaming service and client that Microsoft released on May 29, 2007 to bring Xbox Live features to games for Windows PCs. Games that used it let players sign in with an Xbox Live gamertag, earn achievements and Gamerscore, keep a friends list and play online multiplayer matches ranked by the TrueSkill system; a few titles, such as Shadowrun, even allowed cross-platform play with Xbox 360 owners. At launch, online multiplayer required a paid Xbox Live Gold subscription, but in 2008 Microsoft removed the paid tier and made these services free on PC. Voice chat across platforms was removed in 2010. The package on this page installs the Games for Windows Marketplace client (version 3.5.95.0, the final build, released in February 2014) together with the Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant, and it checks for the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is an older, separate client that is not related to the Microsoft Store apps of Windows 10 and 11 or to Office programs such as word processors. The Games for Windows Marketplace opened on December 4, 2009, together with a Games on Demand service, and offered full PC games, demos and downloadable content. Microsoft closed the Marketplace on August 22, 2013. After that the service gradually stopped working: it became largely non-functional in 2018, and signing in stopped working in 2022. Many games that depended on GFWL, including Dark Souls, Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3, were later moved to Steamworks by their publishers. Today the client is mainly of interest to people who still install older PC games that expect its runtime files; it no longer sells games or provides online features, and Microsoft no longer develops it.

Features:

• Xbox Live gamertag, friends list, achievements and Gamerscore in supported PC games
• Online multiplayer with TrueSkill matchmaking (no longer working)
• Games for Windows Marketplace for games, demos and add-ons (closed in 2013)
• Sign-in with a Windows Live ID, now called a Microsoft account
• Runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1 and 10

It brought Xbox Live features such as gamertags, achievements and online multiplayer to supported PC games.