One of the biggest parts of the update to Microsoft's online PC gaming service is an anti-piracy solution that implements zero-day piracy protection and server-side authentication to thwart piracy before a game's street date. The update would require consumers to authenticate a game for online play.
The update will also add new marketplace APIs that will allow developers to create in-game store fronts that would host add-on content for games.
A new "roaming" feature lets users save their Games for Windows - Live settings in the cloud, and access those settings from any connected Windows PC.
Games for Windows - Live has seen "staggering" growth in the past six months, Microsoft said in a Tuesday statement. The service received an update last November, and is used in Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 for PC and Relic and THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, two games that surely drove growth for the service.
Microsoft is continuing to build partnerships with developers to adopt Games for Windows - Live. There are currently "several projects underway which will incorporate the Live service," Pessner added.