After more than a decade, Fallout 3 GOTY no longer needs Games for Windows Live on PC

Remember Games for Windows Live? It's a name I've not heard for a long time, but something which was still plaguing Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition on PC until just this week.

Games for Windows Live was Microsoft's much-hated first attempt at getting Xbox Live-style features on PC, stuffed in a launcher that no one wanted to use, and initially for a $50/year subscription.

After launching back in 2007, many PC games at the time were coded to require GFWL - including Fallout 3 GOTY - although most have since been updated to no longer need it.

Yesterday, a new patch for Fallout 3 GOTY finally freed it from its lingering GFWL requirements.

"Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition has been updated and no longer installs Games for Windows Live dependencies," patch notes read. "If Fallout 3 was previously installed on Steam, we suggest uninstalling and reinstalling the title.

"The title no longer requires Games for Windows Live and will now launch."

It's ironic that one of Bethesda's best games is now finally free of GFWL after being bought by the company which launched it. But perhaps as Microsoft looks to the future, it is keen to be rid of this bit of its past.

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